Little things
by Prince Mikhail
Summary: From Rokudaime Hokage to the Second coming of the Snake Sannin, from Kumo's Thunder God to the Water Demon of Uzushiogakure, the being known as The Eternal Sage has journeyed across an infinite number of realities and played an infinite number of roles. Now, he takes the place of Uzumaki Naruto and shakes the very heavens themselves. Note: this is not a serious fic...Godlike Naruto
1. Little drops of water

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN: **So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

* * *

Loud and obnoxious laughter rang clear through the early morning skies of Konohagakure no Sato quickly followed by shouted expletives and roars of rage. Ten year old Uzumaki Naruto had just succeeded in doling out retribution worthy of the mythical kitsunes to a number of shop keepers who had unfairly overcharged the blonde child for certain items. The group of chunins in hot pursuit were the unlucky few who were on duty the morning that Naruto's pranks occurred. Running through their minds was the thought of just how a kid capable of such ingenuity could be an academy dead last. The chunin in the lead quickly refocused on the orange wearing child only to realise that he was in fact gaining on him. In his anticipation of an end to the chase he neglected to take into account the fact that for the past hour, Naruto had maintained a steady lead in this game of cat and mouse. A more experienced ninja would have suspected a trap and rightly so.

As Naruto neared the edge of the roof he was on his sharp hearing confirmed what his too sensitive nose – _far more sensitive than loud mouth Kiba's and that just doesn't make sense – _had already told him. So, a quick vulpine grin flitted across his face just as the chunin directly on his tail reached out to grab him only to witness Naruto dive from the roof they were on, curl his body into a ball and sail smoothly through a conveniently open window and fluidly unroll into an uninterrupted run. The chunin cursed because he was too close to the blonde to follow and absently mused that he had been well played. The ninja immediately following the hoodwinked chunin was however quick to follow Naruto. Executing the same manoeuvre, he prepared to shift his roll smoothly into a run only to crash against a solid object. Before the unfortunate chunin could recover from the damage, his comrade who had already jumped after him in a similar motion crashed into him as he rebounded and together they fell into an open dumpster that sprung shut with a click. Naruto's laughter let the remaining chunin know that that was no unfortunate accident.

Continuing in his run, Naruto thought about the genius of painting around the small window – _so small his malnourished stunted frame could just fit through_ – to give the illusion that it was big enough for a full grown man to fit through. He quickly left the building knowing that the chunin would have realised where he would pop out of and would resume the chase. However, his little window trick had bought him the few seconds he knew he would need for what he was about to do.

When he had planned this prank out – _see, Iruka-sensei, I can think so ahead_ – he had ensured that various escape routes would be open to him, and even allowed for the possibility of the ninja chasing him managing to anticipate some of those routes. True to his prediction he glanced up to find several shapes flitting in and out of the edge of his vision, lying in wait for him if he took certain paths in his bid to escape. A quick mental calculation revealed that of his seven escape routes, only two remained uncompromised.

In one world, Uzumaki Naruto would have chosen the left path, eventually run into Iruka and life would continue as we know it. He chose right, and the story of Uzumaki Naruto ended ten hours later, while the story of Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto began.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was having a bad day. He got out of bed with more aches in his old bones than he went to bed with. He had walked into his dining room to find his son eating. Well, that was before said son noticed him and chose to leave rather than finish his food and thus end up speaking to him. To top it all off, no matter what his ninja might say, he suffered the backlash of whatever mischief Naruto got up to more than any other – delivered in the doubling and sometime tripling of his paperwork. So that morning was not a good one for him and to make it worse, his door opened to admit an old man with bandages covering a majority of his body, including one of his eyes; when the Yami no Shinobi came calling, it could mean nothing good.

"What do you want, Danzo? As you can see, I am very busy this morning," Sarutobi bit out.

"We both know that your extra workload is as a result of your softness," was the reply.

Sighing in weary exasperation the hokage replied, "When will you drop this argument Danzo? I have made my views on this matter clear!"

As always happened in the past during such arguments, Danzo was getting agitated, "You allow that child to waste his potential! You and I know just what that child could become if only…"

Rising from his chair, Sarutobi thundered, "Enough! Listen to yourself…you call him a child in one breadth and turn around to propose him becoming a weapon!"

The frustration of his morning had finally come to a head. Danzo stopped for a moment and took a good look at his former teammate. He realised that years of seeing Hiruzen behind a desk had lulled him into a false sense of complacency when it came to his teammate. Internally, he decided to scrap the present form of offense and switch tactics.

"Very well, however, you allow him to be treated as he is and without the proper guidance he might give into the beast sealed into him and turn against us all! No one knows just how containing the Kyuubi will affect the child's mental state. You will see Konoha burn because of some misplaced sentiment."

"Proper guidance?! You mean torture disguised as training for the sole purpose of creating a weapon in the shell and guise of a child."

"If that is what it takes." Danzo stoically replied.

Sarutobi was not normally one to be deterred. But when the sandaime looked into Danzo's eyes he knew that none of his words were getting through and curse him but he just wanted Danzo gone. So he sighed and settled back into his chair. A flicker of surprise crossed Danzo's face at Sarutobi's actions. As the aged hokage lit his pipe, he decided on a course of action – anything to get this annoyance over and done with. His impatience would change the future of the elemental nations and cause no small amount of anxiety to an elder toad sage.

After taking a few good puffs which served the dual purpose of calming him and aggravating his teammate – though he hid it well – he spoke the words that would damn a child's soul and change the fate of a nation…the fate of the world:

"I hear your concerns Danzo, really I do, but let me ask you this; why do you think I always make time for Naruto?"

Danzo stilled, his devious mind quickly forming and discarding various thoughts and reaching different conclusions. A glance at Sarutobi revealed a calm visage that gave nothing away. Were he capable of such thought he would have interpreted his teammate's question to mean that the aged hokage considered it the least he could do for the poor child. However, his scheming mind was almost unable to accommodate such expressions of human kindness. Instead, he smirked and said:

"I see. By becoming the only light in his darkness, you ensure his complete devotion to you." Turning to leave, Danzo said, "It's good to see you haven't lost it all Hiruzen."

Sarutobi sighed sadly at the various twists and turns of his former teammate's thoughts but made no move to correct him; his misled conclusions would satisfy him for a while. He turned around when he felt a chill wind and found the window open. Dismissing it from his mind, he prepared to return to his work and he allowed a moment of thought to thank Kami that Naruto would never learn of this discussion.

* * *

Crouched behind some boxes on the roof of the ninja academy, Uzumaki Naruto stared blankly ahead as his young mind tried to comprehend his world and conceptions crumbling down around his ears. He paid no heed to the tears falling from his eyes as he tried to grasp the full importance of just what he had heard; it couldn't be true right? There's no way something like a demon – _demon brat! We don't serve demons here! Leave, fox brat!_ – would be sealed into him. No way that the hokage – _what's up old man?! Hah! Ero-jiji, what was that orange book?! I'm gonna become hokage, so keep that hat for me!_ – would, would deceive him like that. But even as his little mind denied what he just learnt, the facts added up in a way that just couldn't be denied: The nigh unlimited stamina – _outrunning chunin level ninjas for hours on end since the time he was seven_; his injuries healing overnight – _broken bones mending in hours and torn skin sealing back up in mere minutes_; the over developed senses – _when Kiba, sitting in the front row, tried to embarrass the teacher by pointing out he smelled like sex, probably having gotten some that very morning…Naruto, sitting in the back knew that it was exactly five hours before class and with a guy._ Finally, there were the villagers and their hurled insults and slurs. Even Naruto with his overly optimistic view on life could not hide from the truth that he probably even subconsciously realised a while ago.

It was in a numb haze that Naruto found himself sitting in his apartment, having no recollection of ever journeying there – _maybe the demon is taking me over – _and he immediately had to smother a hysterical bubble of laughter that tried to erupt out of his throat. Now that he had a grasp on himself, if somewhat a shaky one, he wondered what he could do. The first thought was confronting the old man – _no, the Hokage_ – and demanding explanations. He quickly stumped that idea out of existence not wanting anymore lies. No matter how he thought about it, there seemed no way out. Were his faith in the people around him not shaken so thoroughly he might have fled to Iruka for reassurance and comfort. Indeed, at another time, perhaps in another situation, young Naruto would have worked through the seeming betrayal clinging stubbornly to his determination to never give up and become all the more powerful for it. But now, in this place, and at this time, the young lad was just a little too broken, just a little to beat down by the harshness of his life that he couldn't go it alone.

Naruto came out of his thoughts to find himself holding a worn and discarded ninjato that he salvaged from some damaged training ground during one of the times he played ninja by himself. He contemplated and discarded the thought of suicide – not because he was too strong to stoop so low, but because he believed that he could not harm himself fast enough to overcome the freaky – _demonic_ – rate of healing he apparently had. At least, that was how he felt until a memory from long ago flashed before his eyes, of when he had a kunai go through his palm during one of his self-training mishaps. He remembered morbidly watching as his wound tried to heal around the object in his path and failed. Casting another glance at the ninjato he burst into motion, never giving himself time to reconsider. Somewhere, maybe not in this life, he believed he could find the acceptance he needed, and even he recognised the futility of pushing at a mountain.

He considered the various lectures given in the academy about fatal points on the human body; the heart it was then. He gripped the handle of the weapon, placed the tip under his beating heart, and with a rare content smile on his face he fell forward. A quicksilver flash of pain gave him second thoughts before it dulled and he felt his little heart valiantly fighting to keep up its symphony of life…and failing. That was when he felt it, a surge of burning – _red, demonic_ – chakra searing through his body to his heart and trying to heal the damage done. At this point Naruto was barely conscious enough to feel the chakra fight to heal him with the blade in the way. Finally about to fade away, he gave a moment to think of the family he never knew and pray that he meets them in the next life. With that last thought, he closed his eyes and gave into the blackness.

The Kyuubi was startled awake for the first time in a decade to find his host's body failing around him and the mental landscape crumbling. He had a split second to react…and he made the wrong call. A seasoned Shinobi would have pushed the panic and acted. The Kyuubi for all that he had existed for centuries never had to learn that brute force did not solve everything. So, he sent a surge of concentrated youki to the injury and watched in glee as it burnt away the obstruction preventing his host from getting healed. His glee turned to horror as he realised that Naruto's young body could not handle the potency of his youki yet and he watched helplessly as the very organ he tried to heal corroded due to the toxicity of his youki. The mental landscape around him began to vanish as his host finally left the cruel world.

* * *

_Seconds earlier…_

At the first surge of pure unadulterated malevolence the sandaime hokage was out of his seat quick as a shot. Even as his conscious mind denied what his decades old senses had confirmed, his body was already aligning with the window behind his desk, muscles flexing in preparation, chakra pooling in the required areas and at the second surge of nigh physical hatred he was off faster than any eye could track. It took the Anbu stationed in his office precious seconds to understand what their hair standing on end meant before they were in quick pursuit.

With speed worthy of the Professor himself, Sarutobi appeared in Naruto's apartment in a storm of chakra and a mind already plotting ways to drag the upcoming battle out of range of the village with as little collateral damage as possible. The raging tsunami of chakra and sheer focus flickered and was snuffed out of existence. The Anbu Dog who was the first of his group to arrive – left eye red and spinning furiously in its socket – stumbled as he came out of his shunshin his sharingan ensuring that the sight before him would hunt his nightmares until the day he died.

The Professor who had arrived like a force of nature was nowhere to be seen. In its place an aged man stood, staring at one of his life's many failures that although in no way the worst, one that he will always regret. Slowly, knowing that he was already too late – _ten years too late_ – he moved over to the corpse of his grandson in all but blood. The entire Anbu squad had arrived by this point and the silence that permeated the room was reminiscent of when the body of the Yondaime was brought back that day, a decade ago.

Softly, gently, like a mountain being worn down by time, an aged oak tree bowing before the unyielding storm, he fell to his knees at Naruto's side. With hands so steady they shook he reached out and drew the body closer. He was not aware he had tears in his eyes and as he saw a few drops of liquid slide down the boy's cheeks he absently wondered if the pipes were leaking again – _perhaps I should get someone to refurbish the entire building someday._ Gripping the handle of the ninjato, he pulled it out, hating the blood that stained the blade – _much too soon; still a child and already has his blood on a blade_. He discarded the thief that stole this child from him and bowed his head over the rapidly cooling body and finally allowed himself to acknowledge that he will never hear the voice of Konoha's precious sun – _son_ – and saviour.

_Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto watched as once again, life proved too much for an Uzumaki Naruto. He wouldn't blame the child though; he could never judge him for buckling under a weight that should never have been his to bear. Once again, he stood on an illusionary knife edge, knowing he was deluding himself into thinking that there existed a choice to be made at all. Move on and leave this world to make do without the child of prophecy – for as long as it existed anyway – or do as he has always done, as he would always do and step forward to take his place. Meh, he thought with a faint smile, I was due a vacation anyway. And with that last thought, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto descended into the corpse held in the arms of a sorrowful and broken old man._

The Kyuubi raged as he felt his host's soul finally leave his body. He knew that he clung to his anger as a dying man might cling to a straw in a turbulent see of terror and soul searing fear. Then he felt it: the cold arms of nullity, the pure antithesis to reality and existence, the final full stop in every story that has ever begun – the call of the Shinigami…Death. When Namikaze Minato dared to shackle a god to foolish mortal whims he could never grasp just what it was he had done – just what unnatural deed he had wrought. The Shinigami reached through the seal like it never existed and pulled…and the Kyuubi knew pain.

It was a testament to the sheer genius of the Yondaime hokage that the death god met some resistance, tiny and unnoticeable as it was to it. Well, everything is a matter of perspective anyway. While the death god merely desired the soul of the Kyuubi – desired it with a hunger to devour all of creation – it had no interest in the actual accumulated power of the Kyuubi. The seal placed on Naruto fought the extraction as best it could and the result was the consciousness of the Kyuubi being removed ahead of its power – its youki. Doubtless, the power would have followed the soul eventually, that is, unless Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto had a thing to say about it.

Through the pain of having his soul and consciousness separated from his power, the Kyuubi felt a wall slam down between the two parts, cutting off his power. With a howl at the added pain the Kyuubi was finally devoured whole and the death god left, the only proof of its presence being the sheer lack of vitality in the world – almost as though someone had washed out all the colours in the world, leaving them dulled.

The ninja in the room felt as though they had just rubbed shoulders with the grim reaper himself. Kakashi had already began spiralling into a pit of self-disgust and regret as he saw the sandaime cradling Naruto's body

_Minato-sensei wake-up! Please wake-up! Obito! No! Kakashi, it's Rin…she's gone._

He wondered why he even bothered as his plans to retire from Anbu in time to take on a genin team went up flames. The other ninja each remembered times when they interacted with the little child. True, more often than not, it was to catch him after some act of mischief but not one of them could deny the good natured fun and cheer he injected into everything. And so as they looked on as their leader mourned, they each offered up silent prayers, much like they would do for fallen comrades.

Sarutobi pulled himself together and prepared to rise with the body. He stopped, the ninja around him going on alert as well. He wondered what had triggered his senses. For a moment he pondered if the person who did this was still around – _firmly refusing to acknowledge what the lack of forced entry, struggle and the peaceful smile on Naruto's face meant_ – and how long he could keep them alive for while they suffered his fury. And then he felt it again, a pulse of chakra. The ninja around him shifted in alarm, preparing themselves for anything…well, almost anything. Jaws dropped, eyes widened and bodies flinched in shock as the body in the arms of the hokage arched up, took in a deep breath and let loose a scream that penetrated to the bone, nay the very soul. Abandon hope all ye who enter here…Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto has arrived.

* * *

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	2. Little grains of sand

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN: **So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

* * *

The sandaime hokage returned the greetings of the hospital staff he met on his way to his destination. It had been two months since that horrible day he had found Naruto bleeding to death from an attempted suicide. Even now, knowing that the child had survived, the memory still caused his breath to hitch in his chest and his body to tense.

He finally arrived at the door to the private room that contained the comatose blue eyed child. Though undetectable to almost everyone else, he easily made out the two Anbu guards that were stationed outside the room. He opened the door, preparing to go in, and froze in his steps. The Anbu Inu was at his side in an instant checking to see what had startled the Professor. The sight before him caused his throat to close off and his body to tense.

* * *

During the two months his body was in a coma, Naruto had been busy. As soon as his senses informed him that he was alone in the hospital room – save for the two Anbu outside the door – he got to work. The first thing he did was weave a smooth layer of chakra just underneath his skin, making sure not to let the untrained chakra of his new body surge in anyway and alert the Anbu outside. While it was a relatively easy thing for him to pull off he knew that for anyone else, save maybe Senju Tsunade, it would be practically impossible to accomplish.

The purpose of the layer of chakra was to serve as a shield – a force field if you will – to keep anyone outside from sensing what was happening inside it. With that done, and while maintaining a firm hold on the chakra layer, the real work began.

Softly, deftly, he siphoned off a tiny amount of the Kyuubi's youki and began work at the bones. With a skill born of numerous lives spent as a doctor, scientist, apprentice of Tsunade and even a few times as the second coming of the Snake Sannin – _yup, those were dark times indeed_ – he coaxed the bones of his body to adapt as he wanted. Over the period of two weeks, every single one of his bones became incredibly dense, strong, flexible and almost unbreakable. True, it wasn't anything like a Kaguya, but it was sure as hell damn close. A side effect of this procedure was an increase in height, putting him at above average for his age group.

The next step was to craft muscles to handle the increased body weight. Over the next three weeks he meticulously broke down and rebuilt every single muscle in his body. While he was at it he also burnt away a lot of the baby fat in his body and improved his nerves and reaction times. Then he improved on the efficiency of his body's internal organs – strengthening his heart, lungs, kidneys and other organs to function at way above peak efficiency even by ninja standards. Lung capacity increased exponentially, as well as metabolism and energy output.

Five weeks after the start of his coma, his physical attributes were way beyond what any of his peers could achieve even while boosting themselves with chakra. Without the use of chakra, he would still be the fastest and strongest – the best – of any ninja in his generation; and these were basically his base stats. They would undoubtedly improve as he trained himself further.

Next, he tackled his brain – after all, it wouldn't do if the brain was not on par with the consciousness using it. Knowing that this was the most delicate operation yet, he took his time. With the most miniscule amount of youki he could get away with, he set about modifying the brain's neural pathways and augmenting various synapses enabling his brain to process things at a significantly improved rate. In addition to the brain, he didn't forget to take care of his senses.

Of course, he wasn't doing anything as outrageous as giving himself a doujutsu – though after having gone down the same path as Orochimaru many times before he knew all their structures inside out.

However, what he did do was tremendously improve and fine tune all his senses to the point where the level of perception of his eyes coupled with the processing power of his new brain ensured that a single glance was all he would need to completely understand and perfectly recall anything he saw. Simply focusing his hearing – without chakra augmentation – could allow him listen into a conversation hundreds of yards away. His already astounding sense of smell improved so much that a simple sniff could reveal so detailed a story, it would seem as though he was there when it unfolded. His senses were so acute that he was even capable of detecting temperature and barometric changes.

At this point it was the start of the seventh week and he was almost done. The final task left was the improvement of his chakra system. Luckily enough, during the entire process of improving his new body, the act of moving Kyuubi's youki through the body resulted in some strengthening and widening of the chakra pathways in his body.

Nevertheless, it was a fairly straightforward procedure, comparatively. He simply had to circulate as much chakra as his pathways could handle, then gradually increase the amount – much like training a muscle. If he slipped up and circulated more than the chakra pathways could safely handle, slim as the possibility of that happening was, he could easily heal it one of two ways: Using a tiny amount of Kyuubi's youki or activating the famed Uzumaki healing factor. On the note of the healing factor, centuries ago – and many lives previously – he had discovered that the healing factor could in fact be controlled. In particular, it turned up in varying strengths in different members of the Uzumaki clan, but without a doubt, the expression of the healing factor was the strongest ever in Uzumaki Naruto. This super factor arose as a result of being conceived by the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi thus requiring that he, as a child, be able to adapt to survive the miniscule amounts of toxic youki he got frequently exposed to during the course of his growth in the womb.

Naruto kept up the strengthening and widening of his chakra pathways for days on end. He also induced his body to grow a few extra tenketsus in key locations to further improve his body's chakra control. By the time he was done, it was the end of the seventh week and his body was as close as could possibly be to being the perfect killing machine.

He looked upon all that he had wrought, and he saw it was good and on the eighth week, he rested.

After eight weeks of being in a coma and the subsequent body modifications Naruto had performed, he decided it was finally time to wake up and face this new world. His timing was in fact impeccable because the Academy would be resuming in one month, giving him more than enough time to settle in and fully integrate himself into his situation before having to interact with people he had grown up with for years. Regardless of how morbid the thought, he acknowledged that little Naruto's _successful _attempt at suicide would provide a plausible excuse for any changes in behaviour that might otherwise have alarmed the people who knew him.

He opened his eyes and immediately had to fight to suppress the downright shiver inducing vulpine grin that threatened to appear on his face. From the very first moment his eyes had opened his brain had begun rapidly processing everything in his wider than average field of vision. He focused on the dust motes floating in the air, backlit by the fluorescent bulb, and in the time between heart beats he determined reasonably accurate estimates of each individual particle's velocity and thus subsequent path of motion. Passing his hands over the sheet on his body – noticing with a deep sense of accomplishment that his motion was smooth and unhindered by the fact he had been bedridden for two months – he was able to feel out the individual threads that made up the weave of the sheet. He could easily smell passed the lingering scent of antiseptic to the blood that had been spilt on the floor about three months before from a female diabetic patient – the slight smell-taste of sugar in the blood gave it away.

He sat up as his acute hearing picked up the heartbeats of three people outside the door. Focusing in on them he picked up the scent of dogs, ozone, metal and blood – Inu; metal, blood, slight antiseptic, and sword oil – Neko probably; and finally, tobacco smoke, ink and the slight decay brought on by age – the old man no doubt. Quickly composing his face into a calm and serene look he turned his head so that he was gazing out of the window in his room to a spectacular view of the village with the Hokage Monument as a backdrop. He heard the sound of flesh gripping metal as the hokage took hold of the door handle. Then the sound of metal sliding on metal followed as the handle was depressed. Finally, the hinges gave a near silent squeak as the door was opened. Even with his eyes on the view outside, he easily picked up the moment when the hokage noticed he was conscious – by the slight hitch in his breathing as well as the flutter of chakra resulting from being so surprised.

* * *

Inu stared at the child sitting up in the hospital bed whose gaze seemed to be fixed on the view outside. Privately he allowed himself to breathe an internal sigh of relief – unnoticeably of course; he had a reputation to preserve after all. Finally, he could allow himself to relax from the high strung state he had been in for the past two months. The record high of A-rank missions he had completed – a stunning seventeen if he recalled, _no wait, ah yes, one of those was a mislabelled S-rank_ – had left the hokage staring at him in slight concern whenever he reported in. As he turned to return to his post in order to grant the hokage a private moment with Naruto, he silently vowed that when the time came, he would fulfil his duty to his sensei's son as he should have a decade ago.

* * *

Sarutobi felt as though the world had just decided to take a break from resting on his shoulders. Seeing that little blond haired child sitting up brought tremendous relief that he was not even aware he desperately needed. However, quick on the heels of the relief was stomach churning apprehension – he had long since accepted that Naruto had attempted suicide and that he would have to address just why he felt that was the only way out for him. He walked into the room, making sure not to walk silently as all ninja worth their salt unconsciously did. He even closed the door slightly harder than he usually did all in an effort not to startle the poor child, completely unaware that said child was bursting his gut trying not to erupt into belly aching laughter.

The sandaime decided to start off the inevitable conversation,

"Hello Naruto-kun, it warms this old man's heart to find you awake again," he began gently.

When Naruto turned and locked gazes with him he unconsciously stilled as that piercing blue gaze caused flashbacks of another blond haired man's calm and confident soul searing blue eyes. With a start he realised that something about the boy was different. Not just the aura about the child – for gone was the usual childlike, sunny and impatient disposition that used to cling to him and in its place was a more tempered and calm aura – but his looks as well. Indeed, unless his aging eyes were deceiving him, Naruto's face was more defined now; having lost most of its baby fat, and what little he could see of his body suggested he was taller and fitter than before his coma. In a quicksilver flash of intuition he concluded that the doctors must have noticed that a steady diet of ramen had done no good for him and added some extra nutrients to the IV drip administered to him. It was a reasonable deduction and even half-true, for when Naruto was improving his body, he did obtain the needed nutrients and other important proteins from the IV drip. His contemplation of the changed child only lasted a moment and he continued his journey to the bedside seat.

Naruto followed him with his eerily focused gaze and when the old man had sit down, he opened his mouth and spoke in a smooth and even tone,

"Jiji"

The sandaime was startled once again in such a short time. Anytime Naruto had ended up in the hospital he was always noticeably more exuberant than he was at the moment whenever he got a visit from him. Then he reminded himself that he could hardly expect the child to remain unchanged by the ordeal he had gone through.

Naruto who had easily followed the old man's train of thought – for he was never guarded around him, except when he asked about his parents or the reason for why he was treated as he was – had to stop himself from reacting noticeably as his theory was proven correct and any change in his behaviour was put down to surviving his attempted suicide. Since he wanted to get over and done with the real reason that the hokage was here, he said,

"How long has it been since…How long have I been…asleep?"

Sarutobi noticed the change in Naruto's intended sentence – _as he was meant to_ – and replied,

"You have been here for eight weeks now Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun, can you…tell me what happened? Did someone say something to you that made you sad? Did…did someone do something bad to you?"

It was that last question that got a reaction out of him. Naruto blinked in carefully muted surprise at that. He wondered idly if this Naruto had suffered physical violence on his person, or maybe other forms of physical abuse. He immediately dismissed such dangerous thoughts from his mind.

On the outside however, he merely shook his head and having already decided on how he should play this, he stated in the same calm and even tone he had been using,

"Jiji I was…_sigh_…I was just tired."

His short statement achieved its objective by leaving its meaning open to interpretation; essentially making the old man come up with an excuse for him without any effort on his part. And indeed, the hokage did draw his own conclusions, believing that Naruto meant that the various actions and words of the vengeful and misled villagers towards him had finally gotten too much for him to bear. And really, who could blame the child? It was a testament to his tenacity that he had lasted as long as he had, and the hokage liked to believe that it was a measure of Naruto's inherent goodness that he did not immediately turn to revenge as his way out.

The hokage never suspected a thing, for how could he? Simple and transparent Naruto had never been capable of deception when it mattered. The _old_ man sighed and said,

"I understand Naruto and I just want to say that I am always here for you…always."

When he saw the child nod with emotion – _gratitude_ – finally showing in his eyes, he allowed himself to fully relax and accept that Naruto was here, alive and well. He then said,

"Well, the doctors have said that once you wake up, all that remains is a quick check-up and then you're free to go. While you were here I took the liberty of getting your apartment fixed up and now that I see you have outgrown your clothes I can have some brought for you before you have to leave the hospital."

Naruto smiled at him – _not_ _his usual goofy and too wide smile, but a more subdued and real one _ – and said,

"Thanks Jiji. I can't wait to leave here," and wrinkling his nose, he said "it stinks."

Sarutobi allowed himself to chuckle at the Naruto-ish complaint, somehow knowing that such manifestations of the bright and happy child he once knew would be rare occurrences from now on. He knew – _in the depth of his too old bones_ – that Konoha had lost something that day two months ago, something that they would never ever get back.

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Please leave a review. Thank you.


	3. Make the mighty ocean

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN: **So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**AN 2: **This chapter should be the last filler/preparatory chapter. In the next chapter, we should be getting into the thick of things. I'll probably use a time skip and just mention key events in passing. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope it lives up to your expectations and more.

* * *

Naruto paused with the key in the lock, allowing his chakra to flutter in surprise, not because of the Anbu agent who had just sneezed – _the agent whose presence he had detected as soon as he had stepped out of the hospital_ – but because of the fresh and clean walls surrounding his door, unblemished by…creative and often times, repetitive graffiti. Shrugging he stepped into his transformed apartment absently noticing the reinforced ninja grade locks on his door, and now that he was paying attention, the likewise reinforced and heavier door. He let out an amused huff,_ got the apartment fixed up indeed_.

Standing in the doorway, he let his gaze pan across his obviously refurbished apartment appreciating its new décor – from the new and modern appliances to the far more comfortable furniture. He stepped fully into his living room, ignoring the Anbu guard trailing him who just relocated to the tree beside his apartment building.

On the topic of new things, he had to compliment whoever purchased the clothes he was wearing. His outfit, composed of a form fitting dark blue long sleeved shirt and black cargo shorts with steel-toed combat boots, was a definite upgrade from the orange monstrosity of yesteryears. They were very comfortable although he didn't quite agree with their colour scheme – he hadn't gotten too used to donning red and black and would have to see about acquiring some clothes similar to those he had worn in past lives. Perhaps he would even get back to wearing that facemask like Kakashi does.

He sat on his couch and decided to finally tackle the main obstacle to his complete integration in this reality, and that was researching the history of the world. A seemingly inane thing to worry about but he remembered once, many lives ago, publically idolizing the Yondaime hokage only for a mob made up of ninja and civilians to attempt to kill him. Much later, after he had reduced Konoha to a smoking and barren wasteland, he found out that the major change in this world was that Namikaze Minato was the godaime hokage, and Orochimaru's successor.

Moving on, he easily hatched a plan of action. He was aware that the tree outside his apartment afforded any skilled individual the ability to see into his living room but not his bedroom. So, under the guise of checking out the changes made to his bedroom, he casually walked inside it and seamlessly produced a kage bunshin without any evidence to give it away, making sure that the spike in chakra was the same as the one he let out in front of his apartment when he feigned surprise at the new décor. The Anbu outside never suspected a thing. While his clone hid in the bedroom, he wondered back out and eventually left his apartment with a book, which going by the annotation in it, was left to him by Jiraiya as a birthday present – not that the old Naruto would have been able to deduce what the scribbled signature of "Oil" stood for. He made his way to the top of the Yondaime's head and sat down to read, easily sensing the Anbu guard settle down to read what was no doubt an orange book.

* * *

_Meanwhile back at Naruto's apartment_

The moment the kage bunshin felt his creator leave and the Anbu follow him he set out to fulfil the task for which he was created. With no warning his body smoothly shifted into that of an average looking ten year old with perfectly ordinary features, brown eyes and hair. He left the apartment and made his way to the Konoha public library. He nonchalantly walked inside, politely greeting the librarian at the front desk who smiled back at the polite young man. He asked her if she could point him in the direction of the history section, saying he needed reference books for his project on the timeline of the elemental nations. When the librarian expressed surprise at such a seemingly involved project for one so young, he admitted to her, with a sheepish smile, that his father had been trying to get him to pay attention in history lessons, and finally just decided to ransom a promised trip to the festival. He hoped that by doing the project he could convince his dad that he had turned a new leaf, so to speak. Chuckling at the impatience of today's youth for things like history, she pointed out the necessary section for him.

The clone followed her directions and easily located various books written from different perspectives of ninjas and civilians alike – all told, a total of six relatively thick books. He set the books down at a desk and began reading.

Fifteen minutes later he was done.

He set the books back in their place and wandered over to the section set aside for the ninja academy. He speed read the various textbooks, easily deducing the syllabus for all the years of the academy as well as brushing up on the material taught. He had plans to skip a lot of days in the academy and was gratified to note that the final graduation exam accounted for 70% of a student's grade, for all their years in the academy. A dead last student could easily end up in the upper 25% of his year at the end of the day. Finally, the clone went to attend to his last task, the history of various wars and battles fought, as well as, notable deeds of various ninjas. The purpose of reading about such was two-fold: First and obvious was the fact that it would not do to be ignorant of so and so famous person who "everybody knows" and whatever famous deeds they performed. Second, and more subtle, was the fact that reading about various famous deeds would give Naruto an idea of what people were capable of. For example, in some realities, space-time manipulation was never discovered and so using jutsu like the Hiiraishin caused far more trouble that it was worth.

By the time the clone had finished, having taking some extra time to peruse books on foraging, forging, and geography, he had been in the library for two hours. He left, pausing at the front desk to thank the librarian and left with a mischievous smile and a promise to bring her a souvenir from the festival. She laughed at his adorable cheek and waved him off.

The clone walked out of the library and using a technique Naruto had created a long time ago when he got frustrated by the Kage Bunshin's limitations in terms of memory transfer, the clone sent a clump of its memories from the past two hours along the link that all shadow clones shared with their creator. The technique negated the need for a clone to disperse every time it wanted to share its experiences, thus adding significantly to the overall effectiveness of a clone during its lifetime. With that done, the clone walked down a deserted alley and vanished with no smoke, sound or trace – gone, between one moment and the next.

The clone appeared in one of the deserted training grounds closer to the outskirts of the village – indeed, as you might have guessed, he was in search of a suitable place where the original could train, somewhere well away from people and with the smallest possible risk of discovery. The training ground was not his final stop however; he walked with a determined gait towards the trees that surrounded the forest, walking in a direction that would put him eventually at the wall surrounding the village.

Before he could get that far he emerged into a clearing. It bore the marks of area effect ninjutsu, evident by the various scorch marks, damaged equipment, felled trees, and in some places rust brown stains denoting where blood was spilt. These clearings arose as a result of ninjas who wanted to test out some ninjutsu of the army-killing persuasion. Out of courtesy, said ninja rarely ever experimented in official training grounds, not wanting to damage them and prevent others from making full use of them. The clone carefully memorised the location of the clearing and left to another part of the village to repeat the process.

After three hours of searching the clone had found and memorised the locations of a total of eleven such accidental training grounds, three of which had signs of use in the past year and were thus cut out of consideration. One of the potential training grounds had a waterfall, nothing too outrageously big, but more than sufficient for wind natured chakra training among other things.

Having accomplished all that he had set out to do, the clone disappeared without a trace, and this time for good.

* * *

On top of the Yondaime's head Naruto gave no indication whatsoever that he had received the memories of his clone. He smoothly stood up and dusted off non-existent dirt from his shorts. He sensed the attention of the Anbu on him as he stood and surveyed the village, _perhaps he is worried I might jump_. He inhaled the clean and fresh air, held it in for a beat, and then exhaled. With one last glance at Konohagakure he turned to return to his apartment.

Arriving at his apartment once more, Naruto went about preparing a simple dinner. He made a mental note to read a cooking book in plain sight of one of his watchers before he began to prepare gourmet dishes. On that thought, he should probably start taking the chance to convince anyone watching him that he had taken up reading as a hobby – it was never fun when people started getting suspicious and watching him so close that it became a bother for him to cut loose and have fun. After all, he has found that people have the tendency to start giving him narrow eyed looks when they discover he is a master blacksmith, hunter, tanner, tailor, chef, builder, artist,…well, you get the idea. The thing with living for ever is that you have the time to do anything, and so eventually, you do.

* * *

"…After eating and cleaning up he went through the motions of getting ready for bed and after securing his apartment he turned off all the lights, climbed into bed and went to sleep. A few minutes later, Neko arrived to relieve me" said Kakashi as he finished his report of his day guarding Naruto.

The Sandaime exhaled a stream of tobacco smoke and closed his eyes. Turning to one of his most prodigious jounin he said,

"Thank you Kakashi." Noticing that his ninja seemed to have more to add, he inquired, "Is there something else?"

Visibly hesitating, Kakashi finally sighed and said, "No hokage-sama."

Giving him an assessing gaze, the hokage decided to let it rest.

"Very well, you may leave. Thank you for your good work."

With a bow, Kakashi vanished from the hokage's office in a cloud of smoke and the old man turned back to his work, hoping to finish soon and go home.

* * *

_Moments earlier_

The moment Naruto sensed the incoming chakra of Neko he carefully molded his chakra in preparation, and when Neko arrived, causing a slight spike in her chakra, he burst into motion. He seallessly and smokelessly created a kage bunshin beside his bed and in the same motion switched out with clone and without losing a beat vanished from his apartment – all in the time it took the chakra spike of Neko's shunshin to die down thus effectively masking his actions from detection by the two Anbu outside.

Naruto materialised at the first of the eight clearings he was going to convert into his personal training grounds. He created ten highly charged shadow clones and departed for the next clearing.

As Naruto left, his clones spread out and by the time they had stopped moving, each clone stood in front of a tree. From above, the formation of the clones would have looked like a circle with ten points placed at regular intervals. Moving in sync, each clone held up a finger and forged a small vivid blue chakra blade. Together, they began to carve seals into the trunks of the trees they stood in front of.

Having already moved through all eight clearings, Naruto arrived back at the first clearing and assumed a meditative pose to prepare himself for step two. In all the eight clearings his clones were hard at work inscribing seals in increasingly complex patterns on ten trees. Meanwhile Naruto had begun his own portion of the task. Very carefully he gathered and molded a huge amount of chakra and kept a firm hold on it. Reaching out with his senses he examined the chakra of the trees, plants and animals around him – essentially getting a read on the exact frequency, if you will, of the background chakra of the clearing. Then with absolute focus he began to mutate the nature of the chakra he had molded. Step by step, the chakra began to change from one that was unique to Naruto until finally it was indistinguishable from the chakra that saturated the surroundings – and right in time too for he sensed through the link he shared with all his clones that they had just finished inscribing the seals. Now came step three.

Reaching out again, he grasped all eighty chakra links to his shadow clones and gave the shadow clones the go ahead to do their parts. With the active chakra link between themselves, the clones were able to act in sync – simultaneously, they molded all their remaining chakra into neutral natured chakra, placed their hands on the seals they had just carved and activated the seals they had just carved, making sure to halt the activation process just before its conclusion, essentially leaving the seals in a state of suspended animation – much like drawing a circle and stopping just before closing it off. Now for the most delicate part of the entire procedure…with his clones' minds right there with him, Naruto portioned the carefully prepared chakra into eighty equal parts and after making sure that all his clones were ready, sent them out along the chakra links – with each chakra packet traveling at a speed that ensured that all the clones received them at the same time.

As the clones felt the chakra packets arrive, without interrupting the flow, they fed the chakra into the suspended seals and just as the last of the incoming chakra was sucked into the seal they closed the loop, completing the charging and activation of the seals. Owing to the neutral nature of the chakra used, no ninja sensed the chakra spike and the hidden nature of the clearings ensured that the resulting light show went unseen. After the chakra eruption had died down, Naruto dismissed all his clones.

Getting up out of his meditative post, Naruto probed the newly made barrier around the clearing he was in – checking to make sure that all the features he had intended were present in the barrier and that nothing went wrong. He was satisfied with what he found. Now, no one but him would be able to find any of the eight clearings and even those who might have known about their existence in the past would just conclude that the trees must have regrown after they realise that they can't find any clearings outside the training grounds – after all, who knows what the trees grown by the Shodaime are capable of.

With all that done, Naruto could then get around to training up his body to flow smoothly with all the moves and reflexes he had acquired over his very long existence. It was always ultimately easier to have a body that didn't fight against ingrained reflexes and motions. Moving to the edge of the clearing, he flexed his chakra and suddenly five hundred shadow clones existed in the previously empty place. Checking to ensure that they would have enough chakra to see them through the night, he left them as they began grouping themselves into different squads, each of which would run through the katas of a different taijutsu style.

He moved to the other shielded training grounds and repeated the same procedure, leaving clones that would acquire proper training in the use of the five elements, their various combinations as well as kenjutsu katas. With that done he prepared to return to his apartment to get some rest. Now that he had taken care of all the necessary preparations, he could start having his fun. Just before he vanished from the clearing he was in, he watched a batch of clones juggle rasengans amongst themselves and mused absently that he should build a blacksmith's forge in one of those clearings to make custom weapons, and then with not as much as a whisper, he was gone.

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	4. And the pleasant land

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN: **So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

* * *

From his perch in the darkness, twelve year old Naruto could easily make out the 73 bandits that made up the camp which was his target. His superior hearing picked up the whimpers and subdued crying coming from the tent pitched in the centre of the clearing, where he knew the kidnapped women – _girls_ – were being held captive. He had been going on such bandit clearing missions for months now; knowing that the smaller villages in Fire country often lacked military protection and were thus susceptible to bandit raids. So, he would sneak out of Konoha and go to those villages, offering his services for free. Of course, he sometimes had to _explain_ to the people that he was more than capable of carrying out the mission – though, he had found that simply fixing them with a _look_ got things moving pretty quickly. Ever the meticulous one, Naruto performed last minute checks before beginning what he had mentally termed operation _wipe-out_. His self-made high quality kunai and shuriken were all accounted for and easily accessible. His all-black fitted outfit was ready as well – no loose material to flap and give him away or hinder his movements. Finally he used his chakra to probe the complex sealing array on the back of his hand which was hidden by the black fingerless gloves he wore.

* * *

The seal, a customized limiter seal was something he discovered he needed during the first of such secret outings to wipe-out bandit camps. On that first pro-bono mission he had snuck into a bandit camp, navigating to the tent holding the captives without being detected by any of the bandits. His intention was to get the captives free, via use of his clones, and well on their way back to their little village and their loved ones before he commenced with taking down the bandits. The bounty placed on them had requested that the women captured be returned unharmed and the bandits taken in dead or alive, and knowing that it was actually more difficult capturing enemies alive than dead, he had chosen to keep them alive. Well, that was his intention before he had slipped into the tent to find that the captives had all been brutally raped and murdered and the oldest had been only fourteen.

Silence spread unnaturally fast through the clearing as all the normal sounds of the night-time forest stilled. The bandits, quickly sensing the tense atmosphere, began to reach for their weapons. As the first man's fingers brushed the hilt of his sword, the very air in the clearing detonated with the force of a dying sun, instantly killing every single living human present - not a single drop of blood was spilt, not a single sound was made, no flames, no lightning, no jutsu whatsoever was cast. Sixty lives were extinguished by raw, ferocious and quite frankly, godly, killing intent.

After Naruto had turned the bandits' bodies to ash and returned the murdered victims to their loved ones he reflected on the mission, if it could be called that. Realizing that the level he was at could turn a simple face slap delivered in anger into a beheading strike, he set out to rectify the situation. Years ago, when he had lived the life of an Uzumaki clansman, he had heard of theoretical limiter seals intended to drag beings on par with the Bijuu down to the level of common ninja. These seals would be heads above the generic limiter seals which merely limited chakra or provided resistance to physical exertion. No, these theoretical seals would have the power to infiltrate not just the chakra system of the target, but also the neural system as well. Their activation would lock away a stipulated portion of the target's chakra capacity – thereby both limiting the amount of chakra they have as well as their rate of chakra regeneration. They would also limit the rate of transfer of neurons along their neural network, resulting in slowed down reflexes, loss of strength and a general diminishing of the targets capabilities and attributes. Under the effects of the seal, gods would be as men.

It took four months of constant work using a veritable horde of shadow clones, but Naruto did it. He implemented seven levels; level one, being the inactive state of the seal, to level seven placing him on par with the better jounins of Konoha. He also designed the seal with a quick release mechanism allowing him to jump in levels with but a thought.

* * *

Silent as the shadows he hid in, he made his way towards the improvised prison. Slipping inside, his nose, covered by a black facemask reminiscent of the one worn by Kakashi, picked up the scent of blood, sex and tears to his right. Praying, and yet already knowing that it was futile, he turned to find a girl – _a child_ – of about nine years old spread eagled on the bed and staring blankly at nothing. The movement of her chest and the sound of her heart beating assured him she was still alive. The blankness of her gaze and the fluids flowing down her thighs – which his nose informed him were from three different men – told him that she was dead in other ways.

The sight and smell before him caused his body to still and his eyes to turn flat and frigid. Peripherally he was aware that the captives he had come to rescue had drawn back from him in terror, but he could not bring himself to care about that at the moment. Turning back to the entrance to the tent he spoke in a voice that impossibly managed to come out soft and soothing,

"Elder Kayaba sent me for you. Please, stay here while I take care of the _filth_ outside."

Before any of the people inside the tent could utter a word, a clone had materialised beside Naruto with no prior warning and Naruto stepped outside. Naruto touched his hand to the tent flap and a shimmering blue wave passed over the tent signifying that a combination sound and physical barrier had gone up. Inside the tent, the clone set about soothing and calming the captives as well as healing those who needed it using medical chakra.

Naruto forwent using any method to disguise himself as he calmly and nonchalantly walked towards the main camp fire. Some of the men in the camp had obviously noticed him judging by the sound of swords leaving their sheaths as well as the malicious chuckles emanating from some of them. A huge bear of a man, obviously the bandit in charge, stepped forward and in a voice that indicated he was simply going through the motions addressed Naruto,

"Hey gaki, you lost? We could help you find your way back…but then again, you could just as well stay with us and entertain urk!"

Naruto flicked his ninjato to dislodge the blood clinging to it and watched dispassionately as the lead bandit bled out from the second mouth on his neck. The other bandits glanced fearfully at the place Naruto was standing at the start of the leader's speech and only the quickest of them caught a glimpse of the fading afterimage left behind when Naruto moved at blurring speeds. Finally realizing that they were way outmatched, one of the smarter bandits turned to flee and collapsed only for his head to roll away from his body. The rest of the bandits had finally caught on to the situation they were in and the camp erupted in chaos as most chose to run for their lives.

Fifteen minutes later it had all ended in a blur of black, gold and silver. Naruto had blazed through the throng, slicing through bodies, armour and swords as though he were performing katas in open air. His cuts were quick, clean and efficient, granting instant death to all he struck at. Even though the men were little more than despicable beasts, he would not reduce himself to making them needlessly suffer. Casting his senses around the encampment, he confirmed that all 72 bodies were accounted for. He gave an unnoticeable smirk as he turned to return to the captives' tent.

His eyes widened as a blade erupted from his chest. He gurgled as the attacker ripped the blade free with a malicious smile on his unseen face. The smile was abruptly replaced with a grimace of pain as the body he still had a hold on dispersed with a surge of lightning. After his muscles had stopped twitching and he had regained mobility again he spun in a circle, searching for his elusive prey. Naruto's calm and vaguely amused tone floated through the clearing,

"I wondered when you would show yourself. It figures that trash like you would wait till the last moment to attack from behind."

The mysterious assailant, a ninja no doubt, gave off a vicious snarl at Naruto's statement. In a tone filled with hatred attempting to mask the fear underneath he said,

"Why don't you show yourself if you think you're not trash, huh?"

He immediately paled as he heard a chuckle from about a foot behind him. He spun, swinging his sword at chest height – _neck height for Naruto _ – intending to end this fight quickly, only to find that his opponent – _the child_ – was actually much farther away. He quickly assessed the figure in front of him and was taken aback at the fact that the other was completely at ease. The first emotion he felt was fear, fear that the person was so skilled that he didn't need to pay attention to him. However, fear quickly gave way to anger as the situation reminded him of the way people in his home village of Kumo had dismissed him as someone who would never amount to anything…_and now, I'm the leader of the biggest and most infamous bandit group in Fire Country…well, I was at any rate_. Seeing as he never ascended past the rank of chunin, he had been unable to follow Naruto as he cut a swath of destruction through the bandit camp. His realisation did not translate into caution however, and he switched to an offensive stance and with no more discussion, sprang at Naruto.

Naruto had been observing the ninja before him since the beginning and thus easily side stepped his initial lunge. He made no motion to unsheathe his ninjato from where it hung on his back, held in place by a subconscious application of chakra. He kept on dodging the swings of the enemy chunin, moving only as much as necessary to have the attacking blade pass him harmlessly by. As time went on, the ninja's attacks got sloppier as frustration and fear emerged to slowly overcome the rage that had initially driven his swings. All through this, Naruto kept on dodging with the same calm and amused smile on his face. Moments later, he got a notification from his clone, informing him that all the captives had been successfully returned to their home village. _Finally, now I can finish up here and get back home_.

For the first time during the entire confrontation, Naruto reacted to the ninja attacking him. On his next swing, the enemy ninja found an obstacle in his path in the form of Naruto's silver bladed ninjato. He only had time for his eyes to widen before Naruto sent a surge of lightning chakra down his blade, into the enemy's sword and then ground it via his body. The ninja's muscles spasmed and he let loose a pain filled scream. Naruto cut off the flow of chakra to the weapon and watched the ninja fall to his knees. He locked gazes with his opponent and in one smooth and graceful motion, removed his head.

After burning the ninja's body, he sealed his head in a storage scroll – he had memorized the bingo book and recalled a bounty on the Kumo chunin's head. He searched the bandit camp for any loot and stored those in scrolls as well, intending to return most of it to the village the bandits had pillaged. He walked to the edge of the clearing and turned back to face the camp. Then he molded his chakra, stamped his foot and intoned,

"_**Earth Release: Earth Land Flip"**_

And watched as a square section of the ground roughly the size of the camp flipped over, leaving a bare and unblemished clearing where before stood the equivalent of a mass burial site. His work done with, Naruto vanished from the clearing with a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder.

* * *

Sneaking back into the village was as easy as ever. Naruto stealthily made his way back to his apartment door. He simply placed his hand on the door and pushed it open – having replaced all the locks with a complex, and sometimes lethal, sealing array. He took off his stealth clothes, pleased to note that there was not a single drop of blood on them. After cleaning up his equipment and himself, he got ready for bed. Tomorrow was the academy graduation exams and he had big plans.

Ever since he returned to the academy after his reawakening he had established a pattern of always missing written tests, ninjutsu practices, taijutsu tournaments/spars, as well as weapons accuracy tests. Having perused the syllabus of the academy as well as snuck in to view some of the files in the principal's office, he was well aware that it was possible for him to graduate the academy without having ever attended any of the above activities and he was very much enamoured with the idea of shocking everyone with his never before seen skills. Of course, Iruka had tried talking to him to get him to stop skipping school on those days, even going so far as to involve the sandaime hokage. Between the two of them, it should have been a trivial matter to change Naruto's mind. The two found out however that no one could out-stubborn Naruto. After he pointed out that there were absolutely no consequences of missing those class periods, Iruka tried to mention that the skills developed during those classes were essential to graduation. Naruto merely gave the two an enigmatic smile and said,

"Iruka-sensei, I will achieve the highest ever recorded score on the final graduation exam."

Naruto had delivered that statement in such a straightforward and serious tone – his blue gaze solemn, focused and piercing – that the Hokage and Iruka had been struck speechless. After the silence brought on by Naruto's declaration, Sarutobi sat back in his seat and gazed thoughtfully at the young man in front of him.

"Very well Naruto." Silencing Iruka's protests before they could occur, he continued with a kind and proud look in his eye, "I believe in you."

Picking up on the odd phrasing of that last statement, Iruka could say nothing else to that. Whatever it was the hokage had seen as he gazed at Naruto must have been something – and indeed it was. For when Sarutobi had looked at Naruto, he was reminded of another blonde haired man standing in his office, almost two decades ago, with the same determined and piercing blue eyes, declaring in the same solemn and confident tone,

"Sarutobi-sama, send me. I will end this war."

* * *

Please leave a review. Thank you.


	5. Thus the little moments

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN: **So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites…your encouragements are truly heartfelt. **

**Erasels: **I've updated the previous chapter to include the source of the missions. I have also changed the mentions of Chouji as the first student. BAMF generally stands for Bad Ass Motherf**ker. Thank you for pointing out the issues and for reviewing.

* * *

Some of the students already seated in the classroom turned at the sound of the door opening to find their most truant classmate walking in. As had been the case for the past two years, Naruto was dressed in his dark red muscle shirt, partial covered by an open black sleeveless jacket. He also wore black shorts, black steel toed combat boots and a dark red facemask that covered everything below his nose.

The first time Naruto had entered the classroom dressed like that – after awakening from his coma, not that any of the students knew that – silence had quickly descended upon the children gathered in the room. True to form, Inuzuka Kiba had taken the chance to rib Naruto,

"Hey dead last, nice threads, your injury must have fixed your fashion sense but I'm not sure it did anything for your lack of ninja skills."

Even though there was nothing particularly witty about that statement, most of the other students still laughed because this was Naruto and that was what they did. Normally, the laughter would have been interrupted by an obnoxiously loud declaration from Naruto, protesting what Kiba had said and declaring that he would show them the greatness of the future hokage…_ but it never came_. At this deviation from the norm, people quickly focused on Naruto only to realize that he hadn't even paid attention to Kiba or the rest of the class. In fact, Naruto had never stopped walking and was already seated in the back of the room. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Kiba threw out another taunt, intending to get a reaction from Naruto…_nothing_. By this point, some of the other students had become uncomfortable and were shifting in their seats. Taunt after mocking taunt and all Naruto did was seat there, calmly staring out of the window by his seat. Finally getting desperate, Kiba began,

"And what's with that facemask? Finally realized that it must have been your ugly mug that caused your par-" and he stopped.

Wondering at what had interrupted Kiba, the students turned to look at him and found him pale and shaking, and even picked up faint whimpers emanating from his jacket where Akamaru was hidden. Quickly their gazes cut back to Naruto and most of them shivered in fear. Naruto's eyes, that had once been calm and disinterested, were now frigid, deadly and unwaveringly trained on Kiba. After a few more seconds during which everyone held their breath, Naruto finally turned his gaze back to the window. It took a few minutes before people felt comfortable enough to resume their original discussions and even then, there was still an undercurrent of unease running through the room.

At the start of the one-sided confrontation, Uchiha Sasuke had looked up in well hidden interest. He had gotten bored when Naruto didn't react and returned to brooding, as he was often wont to do. When slightly frightened silence had descended however, he quickly played back what Kiba had just said and realizing that Kiba had been about to cross a line by mentioning Naruto's no doubt dead parents, he turned an angry gaze on him. A gaze that quickly turned surprised as he found Kiba looking like he had just seen a ghost. When he glanced at Naruto and noticed his glacial eyes, he had a brief flashback to the night his family was murdered and a slight shiver of fear travelled down his spine. He silently berated himself for his reaction and made a mental note to pay more attention to the obviously much changed Naruto.

A few minutes after the students had resumed talking amongst themselves, Iruka walked in and began the lesson of the day.

Months after the start of the academy term and Naruto's memorable re-introduction to his classmates, the students of Iruka's class began to notice that Naruto never attended classes where they had ninja based evaluations such as weapons accuracy tests, taijutsu spars and so on. Grasping at something familiar _and safe_, they immediately began to speculate that Naruto, no matter the change in attitude and clothing, was still the same unskilled idiot but only much quieter. You see, they chose to interpret his absences as him trying to avoid getting embarrassed by having his mediocre skills and inadequacies aired for all to see. So, now, not only were they convinced that he was a dead last loser, but also a cowardly one too. Sasuke had obviously heard such rumors and with no evidence to say otherwise,_ having already forgotten Naruto's interaction with Kiba_, Sasuke too was convinced that Naruto was nothing interesting and promptly went back to ignoring him.

Naruto, who was aware of what was being said, simply ignored them – _squabbling children playing at being ninjas_ – and continued to train and just generally do his own thing.

* * *

Iruka finally arrived and the students quieted down in nervous anticipation. Quick on his heels was the assistant instructor, Mizuki, carrying in his arms the written portion of the academy exams. Iruka promptly began,

"Well then, I see you're all quiet and eager for your exams, so we'll start right away. The exams will have five parts of 10 point each: a written exam, a weapons accuracy test, a stealth test, a taijutsu spar and finally a ninjutsu evaluation. Now, as has always been the case, all portions of the exams save the written portion will have allowances for students to gain extra credit if they wish. As each portion comes up, I will let you know how the extra credit part works. Now, for these written exams, you have fifteen minutes to answer all one hundred questions correctly. Now, don't feel too bad _when_ you can't answer everything in the time given; the exams are made to be unbeatable and the record for this part of the exam has been held for over five decades by our very own Sandaime Hokage."

Many students broke out in hushed murmuring at that little tidbit. Smirking to himself, Iruka signaled Mizuki to hand out the exams and when he finished, he gave the students the go ahead to begin. Naruto glanced once through the exam and began filling in the correct answers without hesitation – having lived for as long as he had and memorized the academy books on top of that, it was a trivial issue for him to know the answers. Coupled with his body's impressive speed and hand-eye coordination, he easily blazed through the written exams and finished a few minutes before the time was up. Iruka noticing that Naruto was done, as did Mizuki, frowned in confusion. He knew how difficult the exams were and though they were multiple choice questions, they still took time to finish.

"_Just what is the demon-brat up to?" _Mizuki thought to himself. His plans were dependent on Naruto living up to his dead last reputation and bombing the exams. He quickly calmed himself by thinking that Naruto must have either filled in absolute rubbish or just skipped a whole lot of questions – _the plan was still on and soon, Orochimaru-sama would bestow on him unimaginable power_.

At the fifteen minute mark, the timer went off and Mizuki collected the papers for Iruka to start grading. A lot of the students grumbled about how they couldn't finish the exam and how most of them never got beyond the 70th question. Haruno Sakura, lauded as the smartest student in her year, turned to Iruka and asked,

"Ano, Iruka-sensei, you said that the Sandaime had the record for highest score in this portion of the exam, but you never told us what he scored."

Iruka smiled at her and replied, "I had wondered when one of you would ask. I told you not to expect too much on the exam because the highest recorded score is an 89."

Most of the students were visibly startled at that. Then Iruka continued,

"Now, the next portion is the weapons accuracy test. I want you all to follow Mizuki who will oversee the test while I get to grading your exams, I'm sure it won't take me long."

Mizuki led the students outside to the weapons range. The range had two lines at a measured distance from the targets – the closest line was at 100 yards while the second was behind it, at 150 yards. The ten targets were man-shaped cardboard cutouts with special red kill spots marked on them. Turning to the students, Mizuki began instructing them on the next portion of their exam,

"For the weapons and accuracy test, I will call your name and you will step up and receive five kunais and five shurikens from me. You will stand at the 100 yard line and throw at the targets down the range. Your goal is to hit as many red marked fatal points as possible. For each kill point you hit, you get one point. As Iruka mentioned, there is an opportunity for extra credit here. If you want to try for extra credit, you must step up to the 150 yard line and try to hit ten of the kill spots with only the use of shuriken. Each point you hit properly grants you two points, but each one you miss costs you one. So, if you try for extra credit and hit only six points, you get eight points in total. Oh, and before I forget, the targets will be in motion for the extra credit part. Now, let's begin, Aburame Shino."

Shino stepped up to the 100 yard line and, receiving the weapons from Mizuki, began to throw them one by one at the targets. He got four out of five of his targets using kunai and three out of five with shuriken. Mizuki noted his score down and called the next person up. This continued for a while, with all the students so far opting to forgo the attempt at extra credit. Next, Mizuki called forward Kiba, who decided to try for extra credit. Strutting forward to the taunting calls of his classmate, Kiba accepted the weapons from Mizuki and stood at the 150 yard line. At this point, most of the class was quiet and focused on Kiba. Mizuki activated the mechanism that set the targets in motion and Kiba began. He threw the first five shuriken in quick succession and got four kill spots. The students watching cheered him on and bolstered by his success, he got too cocky and launched the last five weapons faster than before and only scored three out of five. Still, with a total score of eleven points, he was the current highest scorer. He threw a smug smirk at Sasuke and swaggered back to his place in line. The other students after him were encouraged by his success and started trying from the extra credit line. None however were able to do as well as Kiba, until it was Sasuke's turn.

The students immediately focused on him, and his fan club began to cheer him on. Sasuke calmly stepped up to the 150 yard line and accepted the weapons from Mizuki. He quickly launched five shuriken so close together that it seemed like he threw them simultaneously. To the amazement of the watching students, he got four out of five – missing the last one only because the target shifted at the last moment. Repeating the same thing with the last five, he got the same score, putting him at the top of the scoreboard so far with a score of 14 points. Mizuki marked down his score, glanced at his board and called the next student, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto nonchalantly made his way forward and received all ten shuriken from Mizuki. He then turned towards the range and as the students noticed he was making his way to the 150 yard line, they began to jeer at him, telling him not to bother making a fool of himself. Paying them no heed whatsoever, he stopped at the line, glanced at the targets and launched all ten shuriken simultaneously. A single sound of metal shredding through cardboard echoed through the clearing, quickly followed by gasps of shock as the students noticed that each of Naruto's shuriken had gone through the red spot on the head of each of the targets. Silence spread through the clearing as the students and Mizuki attempted to understand just what they were seeing – a perfect score, using shuriken launched simultaneously at moving targets 150 yards away. Finally snapping out of his shock, Mizuki smiled and congratulated Naruto while internally seething at this new endangerment to his plan. Yamanaka Ino went next and choosing not to attempt for extra credit, scored seven out of ten.

Mizuki finished tallying up her score and led the students to the next exam – the stealth test. Arriving at the obstacle course set up for the students, they discovered Iruka waiting for them.

"Well then, why don't we continue with the tests. As mentioned previously, this test allows you to get more than the allotted 10 points. The objective of this test is to make it through the obstacle course, bypassing all the traps and obstacles set up for you and all without triggering any of the bells strung up in there. You will be graded on your speed and ability to make it through without using any chakra, triggering any bell or getting injured. Each student starts off with 15 points and if you make it through in less than 3 minutes, without using chakra, ringing any bells or sustaining any injuries, you get to keep your full 15 points. Every 30 seconds after the 3 minute mark that passes, you lose one point. If you use chakra, ring a bell or sustain an injury, you lose one point. The record for this particular test is actually held by the Yondaime Hokage who took 4 minutes and 19 seconds, and rang no bell to get a score of 13 points."

When Iruka had mentioned the time limit, a lot of students began to think that the course would be relatively short and that they could easily make it through. Their hopes were ruthlessly crushed when he mentioned the Yondaime Hokage's time. If a legend like him could only get 13 points, then obviously the course must be insane. Iruka motioned Shino forward to begin and stepped back.

Taking in a barely perceptible breath, Shino ran into the sectioned off obstacle course and since the students couldn't see what was happening inside, they all fell silent to listen carefully. One minute in, they heard a bell ring, followed by another about 45 seconds later. They noticed Iruka making a note in his scoreboard – undoubtedly penalizing Shino. The 3 minute mark passed and Shino was still nowhere in sight. Then 5 minutes after he went in, they heard the sound of a trap go off and many surmised that he must have gotten injured. Finally, after one more bell rung, Shino emerged, a full 5 minutes and 27 seconds after beginning. He had one injury from a surprise trap and just barely scraped a score of 7 points. After Mizuki had reset the course, the next student went in.

One by one, the other students made a pass at the obstacle course, with most getting times of over 5 minutes and 30 seconds and scores of 6, 7, 8, and in one case, 9 points – earned by Kiba. When it got to Sasuke's turn, the students once again gave him their full attention. When he started, they all focused, waiting to hear if he rung any bell or encountered any traps. After 3 minutes, people had begun to think that he might make it through without ringing a bell. Then at the 4 minute mark, they heard the distinct tinkling of a bell, quickly followed by another. Sasuke emerged after 4 minutes and 23 seconds without a single scratch on his body – he earned a score of 11 points. As Sasuke returned to his place in line, he threw a blatantly challenging smirk at Naruto, obviously still miffed by Naruto's performance in the weapons accuracy test. Naruto obviously caught the look, as did practically everyone else, then nonchalantly dismissed it as he walked passed Sasuke to the starting line. This action did not sit well with Sasuke who had to calm himself before he did anything unbecoming in such a public place. Sasuke's fan club did not hesitate to act in his place though and quickly hurled insults at Naruto – loudest of all coming from Sakura and Ino. Blatantly ignoring them, and thus angering them further, Naruto glanced at Iruka to give him the go ahead to begin. At Iruka's nod, he was off.

The students listened and, despite Naruto's showing at the weapons range, most of them expected to hear bells going off as well as expletives. After the first minute they had heard nothing – eyebrows were already being raised and disbelieving glances being shared. After 2 minutes and 58 seconds, Naruto casually strolled out of the exit of the obstacle course – not a single scratch on him, clothes unruffled and bells remaining silent. After Iruka had gotten over his surprise, he marked down Naruto's time and record shattering score of 15 points. Calmly walking passed a bewildered Uchiha Sasuke and gaping Inuzuka Kiba, Naruto returned to the tree he was leaning against before his turn and sat down on a raised root. Iruka called the last student, Ino, forward and she finished with a score of 8 points.

* * *

In his office, Sarutobi Hiruzen continued to watch the ninja academy exams using his crystal ball. He had been following the progress of Uzumaki Naruto and was pleasantly surprised by his success so far. It gladdened his heart to see Naruto realizing his full potential even if he mentally made a note to discover just how he had improved so much. He glanced up as he heard his door open and watched as a handful of jounin – _the future jounin senseis of the present graduating class_ – entered his office. Inviting them over to watch their future students' performances, he refocused on what was happening in the academy.

* * *

After collating their results, Mizuki and Iruka led them to the taijutsu sparring grounds. Iruka turned to the students, most of whom were now eyeing Naruto with something other than scorn and haughty contempt, and began his instruction,

"Now, I want you to listen up carefully. The next portion of the exam is a taijutsu spar between you and Mizuki. The time limit for the spar is two minutes and your goal is to either defeat him or last the full two minutes. Each student will start out with 10 points and here's how the scoring will proceed: If a student wins before the time limit, by either knockout or knocking Mizuki out of the ring, then the amount of time left on the clock will be divided by 20, rounded down to the nearest whole number, and added to their 10 points for their final score. If a student loses before the limit, the same math occurs, but with a deduction from their 10 points for their final score. Once a student lasts past the two minute mark, they get their full 10 points whether they win or not. The record for this portion of the exam is a win in a time of 45 seconds, held by the Yondaime hokage. Now, let us begin with Shino."

Shino stepped impassively into the ring with Mizuki and at Iruka's signal, the spar started. From the get go it was obvious that Mizuki was not going all out; for how could he, an academy student could ordinarily never hope to match a Chunin. Using his higher than average clan taught taijutsu skills, Shino was finally able to knock Mizuki out of the ring after 1 minute and 37 seconds, for a final score of 11 points. After congratulating him, Iruka called out the next student. And so it went, the students matched up against Mizuki and only the clan children ever managed to win before the time limit was up, even if Mizuki went easy on them. For the civilians, most were able to last the 2 minutes, while the rest lost before it. Kiba, being the second best student in Taijutsu – _on paper_ – was able to win after 1 minute and 13 seconds. Eventually, Iruka called out Sasuke's name.

Determined to be the best scorer in this portion of the test, Sasuke kicked it into high gear as soon as Iruka started the match. Noticeably moving faster than any of the other students before him, he engaged Mizuki in a ferocious taijutsu encounter. Landing more blows than he received, he ended the match with a brilliantly executed acrobatic manoeuver that had his leg propelling Mizuki out of the ring after a hard impact to his chest. Iruka stopped the timer and noted his time of 1 minute and 2 seconds. Confident that no one would be able to beat his time, Sasuke exited the ring with a smug smirk and passed by Naruto who was already making his way towards the ring before Iruka had even called on him.

* * *

Back in the Sandaime's office some of the jounin expressed approval at the Uchiha heir's taijutsu prowess, commenting that he obviously must be the genius of his generation. Hatake Kakashi, one of the jounin present, silently observed one of his future students with his one eye, before returning to his orange covered book. Noticing the lack of commentary from his comrade, Sarutobi Asuma glanced over only to huff in exasperation at Kakashi's terrible habit – not that he was one to talk however. When the jounin noticed that Naruto was next they paid close attention. That attention only sharpened further when Kakashi _put away his book_ and focused on the crystal ball as well. Giving off an amused chuckle, the Sandaime returned to gazing at the scene that was unfolding in the academy.

* * *

Waiting for Iruka to finish recording Sasuke's time, Naruto calmly observed Mizuki standing opposite him, taking particular notice of the well hidden malice in his eyes. Knowing that Mizuki would probably not hold back in the first few moments of their spar, he prepared himself to crush the traitor swiftly and ruthlessly. The other students, Sasuke in particular, quickly focused on the spar that was about to begin, hoping to see if Naruto's previously hidden skills included Taijutsu as well. Mizuki just wanted to kill two birds with one stone and diminish Naruto's chances of graduating while getting to beat him down. The moment Iruka gave the signal, Mizuki was off.

Blurring across the arena, faster than any of the other genin could ever hope to follow, he appeared in front of Naruto, his right fist already rocketing towards the boy's head. So confident was he in getting in the first strike that he overcommitted to the blow, and so, when his hand passed through the space where Naruto's face used to be, he found that he had overextended himself. Before his brain could put together what the lack of impact meant, his body was already folding over the right knee that Naruto had ploughed into his stomach. Blood left his mouth as Iruka and the students watching gasped in shock when they noticed the foot sized crater created where Naruto had pushed of the ground. Naruto's leg came back down just as physics caught up to Mizuki, whose body had begun to leave the floor. It was not to be however; Naruto's right hand was suddenly gripping his hair as he drove his head back down to meet the left knee that he had just raised. The spectators winced when a crack resounded through the clearing, quickly followed by blood spraying out of Mizuki's nose and mouth as he slipped into blissful unconsciousness. Numb fingers clicked the button on the timer and Iruka slowly gazed at the clock's face

_3 seconds_

* * *

A low whistle left the mouth of one of the jounin gathered around the hokage's crystal ball, followed by an amazed, yet quite accurate, observation:

"Now, that was a smack down."

The hokage chuckled and puffed out a cloud of Tobacco smoke as he thought to himself, _Kushina, he really is your son_. The Hokage had obviously noticed that Mizuki had started off too strong for just a taijutsu spar and made a mental note to keep an eye on him. Kakashi, who had also noticed that Mizuki's intentions were less than pure, watched with vindictive pleasure as the idiot slumped to the ground in a bleeding and broken mess – _serves him right for pulling a stunt like that_.

* * *

The students had begun to whisper as soon as Naruto had been declared the winner by knockout. Many of them were wondering just when the supposed dead last had gotten so strong and why he had kept on avoiding assessment tests during the academy school year. Sasuke, meanwhile, was mentally reconsidering everything he thought he knew about Uzumaki Naruto and making plans to corner him for questioning later. Back on the sparring field, Iruka had propped Mizuki against a tree and used what little battlefield healing jutsu he knew. Since his partner was out for the count, he faced off against Ino himself, winning the spar after 1 minute and 50 seconds.

After the students had gotten over their shock at seeing the dead last demolish their teacher, Iruka herded them back into the class room for the final portion of the exam. Being that it was a fairly straightforward process, his instructions were short; you hear your name, enter the next room and do what we tell you, and when you're done, move on to the room across from you and wait for the rest to finish. He started with Shino as always, and continued down the list. Mizuki, who had recovered, joined him halfway through. Sasuke walked in when it was his turn and then Naruto's name was called.

As Naruto made his way towards the connecting door, his acute hearing easily picked up what was being said in the room that contained those who had already finished their exams. Smirking to himself at successfully stirring up the hive, he entered the connecting room to see the two instructors seated at a table. He walked to stand in front of them, absently noting that the hatred in Mizuki's eyes was more visible, probably due to his humiliating injuries. Smiling proudly at him, Iruka spoke,

"Well, Naruto, you've gotten to the last portion of the exams. This ninjutsu test is fairly straightforward; you will be tested on the use of the basic three jutsu – the kawarimi, henge and bunshin no jutsu. We will begin with the kawarimi. Now, sometime in the next 15 seconds and with no prior warning, Mizuki will launch a blunted kunai at you, which you must obviously avoid by switching out with something else. Extra points will be given for demonstrated mastery of the jutsu. The 15 seconds starts now."

Naruto had kept his cool gaze on Mizuki throughout the speech given by Iruka and thus easily made out the lust for vengeance that brightened his eyes when Iruka mention the surprise _blunted_ kunai. Fully aware that Mizuki would attempt to get him back for his previous humiliation, he subtly went on alert for any tricks, while appearing calm, unconcerned and wide open. Nine seconds after the official start of the testing, Mizuki launched a kunai with no prior warning at Naruto, whose eyes easily tracked it – even if it was travelling far faster than a genin could handle. The kunai travelled the gap in an instant and, to the horror of Iruka and barely hidden glee of Mizuki, it plunged into Naruto's chest. Iruka watched – _devastated_ – as Naruto's eyes widened in pain and his body began to fall backwards. He was on his feet in an instant, about to rush towards Naruto, to give whatever futile aid he could when Naruto's body burst into smoke and revealed a chair with the kunai sticking halfway out of it. It took a moment for Iruka to understand what he was seeing and he slumped in relief. A chuckle behind him had him turning to see Naruto standing there with an amused air about him.

In the hokage's office, the present jounin allowed their muscle to relax once they realized that Naruto had successfully performed the replacement technique. Most noted with interest that the kawarimi had been pulled off without any hand seals and with the kind of mastery only found in high level chunin ninja and above.

After he had calmed his heart rate, Iruka turned to berate Mizuki for using what was obviously a real kunai. Mizuki acted sheepish and was able to somewhat fool Iruka into believing that it was a simple oversight on his part. He even apologized to Naruto, who wasn't fooled for an instant. Mizuki was aware, that at this point, Naruto had already passed his graduation exam. So, he privately began to revise his plan for stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. After things had calmed down, and Iruka had marked Naruto extra for performing a seamless kawarimi with no hand seals and with enough mastery to leave a decoy afterimage, he resumed with the tests.

"Good job on the kawarimi Naruto. Now, you simply have to henge into another person, and then create at least three clones."

With only a nod, Naruto's form simply shimmered and in his place was the Sandaime Hokage in full hokage robes and his pipe in hand. As the figure before them looked up, Iruka and Mizuki subconsciously straightened when they met that ancient and penetrating gaze. Calmly, the figure of the Sandaime breathed out a small stream of fire and lit his pipe. Taking a few puffs, he exhaled some tobacco – _which Iruka could smell _– and spoke in the mellow and soothing tones of the Professor,

"How are you, Iruka-kun?"

For an instant, Iruka was about to reply as he had always done when the Sandaime asked after him, but then he reminded himself that this was Naruto under an _eerily realistic_ henge and said,

"Very good Naruto, that's another sealless, smokeless and obviously mastered jutsu. At this point in time, you already have passing marks, but if you want to continue, you can attempt to create at least three bunshins."

Once again – with neither smoke nor sound – the room was suddenly containing ten Narutos placed at regular intervals in a circle around the room. Looking around, neither Iruka nor Mizuki were able to determine which one was the real Naruto. Chuckling as he wrote in his clipboard, Iruka awarded Naruto full marks with extra credit for mastery of the three academy jutsu. He then said,

"Okay, Naruto, you can disperse them now."

Nine Narutos – including the one standing where the original had been – faded out of existence without a trace. Turning in surprise, the instructors found the original standing at the back of the room, obviously amused at their surprise. Shaking his head, Iruka said,

"You never cease to amaze me Naruto" then beaming with pride at him, Iruka tossed him a hitai –ate and told him, "You pass, Naruto, with distinction. Congratulations."

Smiling at him, Naruto caught the hitai-ate and bowed to the two teachers. He made his way out of the room and to the room across him, where the students who had finished were waiting. When he walked in with his hitai-ate displayed on his forehead, none of the students were surprised anymore; Naruto had apparently already desensitized them during the earlier tests. Naruto sat at the back as he often did and about ten minutes later, Ino entered with her own head band, followed by Iruka and Mizuki.

Iruka beamed at the students and began his closing statements,

"Well, it's all done now. Though some of you might not have done as well as you expected, I am still proud of the progress you have all made. Those of you who couldn't make the passing grade can retry next year, I have full faith that you will be ready by then. For those of you who received your hitai-ate, you have my congratulations. Make sure to be here tomorrow morning for team assignments. And without further ado, the announcement I know most of you have been waiting for; the rookie of the year. This year, the rookie of the year position is awarded to Uchiha Sasuke for a consistently outstanding performance throughout his attendance."

Most of the students applauded, having already expected as much, with members of the Sasuke fan club screeching loudly. After calming them down, Iruka continued,

"There is still one more thing to take care of however. Uchiha-san earned the title of Rookie of the Year because all six years of schooling were taken into account. Taking only the graduation exam into consideration however, the results are quite different. I will now list the top three students with scores in each of the exam sections. Inuzuka Kiba, with scores of 6.7, 11, 9, 12 and 11, earned a total of 49.7 to come in in third place."

Kiba immediately cheered at doing so well in the exams, ignoring his terrible score in the written portion of the exam. Some of the people around him congratulated him while others pointed out that his accumulated score must be terrible to be able to offset his high exam score. At the observation, he flushed and grumbled while others laughed. The students eventually turned back to Iruka who continued,

"Uchiha Sasuke, with scores of 8.1, 14, 11, 12 and 13, earned a total of 58.1 to come in in second place."

Most of the girls in class cheered at Sasuke's high score, before quieting down as they realized that someone had obviously scored higher than him. Many of the students reached the proper conclusion about the identity of the first place winner at the same time and turned to gape in shock at the person they had derided as the dead last for the past six years. Speaking into the bewildered silence, Iruka announced Naruto's score,

"Uzumaki Naruto, with record shattering scores of 10, 15, 15, 15 and 15, earned the highest possible score of 70 points to come in in first place. Naruto is now the current holder for highest score in every portion of the graduation exams. Congratulations Naruto and to the rest of you as well. I will see you tomorrow."

And with the rest of the class gaping at the disinterested Naruto, Iruka and Mizuki departed from the classroom. Naruto stood up and meandered outside as well, while the rest of the students looked on in stunned silence. The sound of the door closing behind him roused them from their stupor and Naruto smirked as he heard a cry of outrage and shock that originated from Kiba. Chuckling to himself, he vanished from the hallway – disappearing as though he were never there.

In the Hokage's office, the jounin who had been watching the performance of their students missed Naruto's disappearing act because, by then the hokage had ended the jutsu that allowed them to view the classroom. Turning to his jounin, Sarutobi prepared to begin the meeting he had originally called them for. He mused to himself that things were obviously about to become very interesting.

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you. Thank you**


	6. Humble though they be

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN** : So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites…your encouragements are truly heartfelt. **

**AN 2: Some people have been kind enough to point out discrepancies in my story…please, any feedback is very much welcome. In addition, Kotochi asked about Naruto's back history. I will admit that my approach to this story was designed to skirt around actually creating the scenario under which Naruto would ascend to his present status, but I gave it a try anyway. Let me know what you think. Enjoy. **

* * *

Naruto watched the sun rise from the top of the Yondaime's head. Taking in such clean air and listening to the birds sing in the morning always invoked feelings of nostalgia in him. Contrary to what they say, the world for him had ended,_ and began_, not on a stormy night, but on such a peaceful morning. Now, as he gazed over the slowly awakening village, his mind recalled a time far in the past, _hopefully never in the future_, when Konoha was just a blackened spot on the map, and where the resurrected Uchiha Madara had finally captured him.

* * *

_Naruto fought and struggled against the chakra bonds that held him in place. He screamed and raged as Madara finished extracting the Hachibi and dropped the rapidly cooling body of his friend, mentor and brother in arms. He turned his gaze away from the corpse, and the approaching Madara, to watch the remnants of the Shinobi Allied Forces standing – helplessly – outside the barrier that Madara had set up. When they had first arrived, intending to rescue Killer Bee and Naruto, they had thrown everything they had at the barrier, only to watch in horror as the chakra fueling their rescue attempts was absorbed by the barrier; strengthening it further. Madara had just scoffed disdainfully and turned to begin the extraction. _

_Now he stood before Naruto and started weaving the hand seals that would begin the tug of war between Naruto and the Gedo Mazo, where defeat was certain death. Smiling in anticipation of possessing the Kyuubi and finally remaking the Juubi, Madara completed the hand signs and began the procedure. The moment the questing hand of purple chakra touched Naruto, his body, his world, his very reality became pain. _

_The scream that was wrenched from his throat was so soul searing that it sapped the strength from Tsunade's bones, leaving her to slump in sorrow and anguish as she watched the last thing that still mattered to her get his soul shredded to sate a madman's thirst for power._

_Through the haze of pain, Naruto became aware of the chakra bindings failing under the force of the chakra being exerted. With his reconnection to his chakra, the very thing that was being ripped out of him, his pain increased tenfold, a hundred fold, a thousand fold even. He felt his very soul being pulled apart as the Gedo Mazo attempted to remove the Kyuubi, only to discover that the two beings were too tightly bound – one would go nowhere without the other. _

_When the Yondaime had sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto, he had invoked the power of a being outside mortal comprehension. The act of sealing a half of the Kyuubi inside the belly of the Shinigami killed two birds with one stone; he was able to lock away a portion of the Kyuubi's power forever, but he was also able to bring the Death God forth to attempt what no man had ever attempted before – to utilize a portion of a god's essence to shackle an immortal creature to a mortal child's soul. Indeed, people lauded the genius of the Yondaime while only being aware of less than half of what he had accomplished that night. Even when Jiraiya and the Sandaime had examined the seal on Naruto, they were unable to see beyond the admittedly complex surface design of the seal. Thus, they missed the part of the seal that held a portion of the Shinigami's power, which held the main containment seal together and bound the Kyuubi's soul more tightly to Naruto's own._

_So, when Madara attempted to extract the Kyuubi from Naruto, he was attempting to separate two souls that had been bound as one by the power of a Being that existed in the space between spaces, in the moments between seconds. Madara, for all his vaunted power and legendary status, was as a child playing with forces beyond his limited human understanding. The chakra of the Gedo Mazo had latched onto the Kyuubi and begun to pull. Naruto's soul obviously resisted the extraction, much like one would resist another's attempt to pull off one's arm. Somehow, Naruto was able to finally fight through the world devouring pain he was in and pull back against the force behind the extraction process. The knowledge that his life was not the only thing at stake gave him an inner strength that was beyond any he had ever possessed. Madara felt the resistance and panicked. The surrounding Shinobi dared to hope as they watched Madara flare his chakra as though he were fighting against a steady force. And indeed, that was what he was doing; noticing that the progress of the extraction process had slowed to a crawl, he joined his chakra to the statue hoping to boost it. _

_Naruto gritted his teeth as he felt the strength behind the opposite pull increase tremendously. Because he had been fighting for so long, he was at less than half strength. Knowing that very soon his current strength would fail against the combined might of Madara and the other eight Bijuu powering the Gedo Mazo, he attempted something that he had only theorized about all those years ago when he had learned to utilize Natural energy. _

* * *

_The main principle behind successfully molding Natural energy was keeping a steady balance of natural, physical and spiritual energy in the core of the individual. This requirement of constant balance is what limited the amount of sage chakra that could be molded at any a given time – the amount of physical and spiritual energy the individual possessed determined how much natural energy they could mold to keep the balance. For someone with obscene amounts of chakra, like Naruto, the amount of sage chakra he could mold at a time could boggle the mind. However, after a few years of using shadow clones to mold sage chakra and then transfer said chakra to him when he ran out, he set out to find a better method. His determination led to him learning how to mold sage chakra while in motion – it was however not the solution he had originally envisioned. Natural energy was the energy of the earth, the chakra of life itself, and as such, Naruto believed that it was as close to infinite as one could ever get. This notion arose from the fact that it was practically impossible to use up that much chakra before more was regenerated. With that in mind, he came up with a theory: If he could absorb enough natural energy to create a stable balance and then begin to absorb, in a steady amount, more natural energy while simultaneously utilizing the same amounts of natural energy from his core, he could take advantage of the infinite nature of natural energy. Essentially, he would be using up the natural energy in his core just as fast as he would be replenishing it, while keeping the mixture of three energies in perfect balance. He believed that natural energy, being neutral, could be controlled to do things normal chakra couldn't such as resisting the attempted theft of one's soul. He had never tested his theory, but here, with his soul being torn asunder, it was as good a time as any._

* * *

_Fighting through the haze of pain he was in, Naruto began to draw on the natural energy around him – energy that had always been in a relatively surplus amount in Fire country, owing to the numerous trees and animals littering the land. Madara roared in anger as he felt the pull on the Kyuubi reverse direction. Turning his attention to Naruto, he found a calm young man with a serene look on his face, where before there had been a body thrashing in the grasp of unfathomable pain. He was just about to force out even more of his chakra when he glanced up in momentary surprise, causing his concentration to flicker for an instant before he recovered his focus._

* * *

_Tsunade had been watching from her position slumped on the floor, watching as her combination son and little brother in all but blood got his very soul torn apart. She stirred from the tempest of anguish and loss that had ensnared her when she noticed the change in the mood around her. A glance revealed what the matter was as she noticed the peace and calm on Naruto's face. When the pulling motion of the chakra hand originating from the Gedo Mazo slowed to a stop, she rose to her feet. When the pull actually began to reverse, she took a step forward – hope and wonder beginning to shine on her face. When she noticed Madara about to act in retaliation for whatever Naruto was doing, she made up her mind. Knowing that she was about to gamble, and quite probably lose, she sprang forward with her clenched fist blazing with chakra. With the roar of an enraged mother bear she punched the barrier, producing a deep sound much like striking a gong. As the barrier's chakra absorption ability kicked in and attempted to absorb the chakra in her punch, she released the chakra in one burst just as she normally did for her super punches. When the Shinobi forces had first attempted to break the barrier, she noticed that the absorption of chakra happened at a gradual pace. What she had done was try to force feed it more than it could handle in such a short time. _

_The barrier flickered…_

_Madara glanced up in surprise…_

_The chakra feedback from her stunt blasted Tsunade away, with fatal wounds…_

_Madara's concentration faltered for a heartbeat…_

_It was enough…_

_Naruto gave an almighty pull…_

_The Gedo Mazo lost…_

_Nothing was ever the same._

* * *

_The moment Naruto felt Madara hesitate, he pulled with everything he had and like an elastic band, the portion of his soul in the grasp of the Gedo Mazo snapped back inside his body – but his soul was not the only thing that came back. He had neglected the fact that the Gedo Mazo had a firm hold on his soul, so when he dragged the Kyuubi back in, the chakra of the Gedo Mazo – and the eight Bijuu with it – came along for the ride. Naruto had just unknowingly done what Madara had intended to do to himself._

_Everyone watched in dawning horror as the last of the Gedo Mazo's chakra disappeared into Naruto. All was still as though the entire world had just taken in a deep breath. Then the stillness was shattered as Naruto threw his head back and howled. As the chakra of the nine Bijuu and the Gedo Mazo merged inside his core, the balance of natural energy and body chakra was thrown out of whack and so, Naruto subconsciously compensated and began to take in more natural energy. He absorbed increasingly larger amounts of natural energy until he had enough to match the raging chakra in his core. The problem with this was that when the chakra in his core combined, it resulted in chakra equivalent to a primordial Being – the Juubi. Often called the Ten Tailed God, the Juubi was credited with creating the world and all life in it. So, when Naruto tried to balance out that chakra with natural energy, he had to absorb everything the world could give; essentially absorbing the equivalent of two godly beings._

_It was too much power for a single human soul to contain and as Naruto's very existence threatened to burn out, the Shinigami got involved. The chakra present inside Naruto was trying to negate his existence, trying to cast his very soul into oblivion. Yet, that very soul had been touched by the essence of Death; a Being for whom oblivion does not exist. Contradictions could not be allowed in reality and so Naruto had to be removed from existence without his existence being compromised. Only one solution presented itself and thus Naruto became more than human, more than merely mortal; he became the Eternal Sage._

_The actual process of transcending his mortal limits happened both in an instant and for an eternity. Since the laws of the reality Naruto existed in demanded that a mortal soul be unable to exist with so much power contained in it, the essence of the Shinigami dragged Naruto somewhere where such laws held no sway – into the space between spaces, and the moment between seconds, into the place where the Death God ruled. There, Naruto experienced eternity as the powers he had absorbed integrated themselves inside him, bonding to his very essence. Under the onslaught of so much raw power, all that he was, all that he had ever been was erased – Uzumaki Naruto died, for the Eternal Sage to live._

_After The Sage had acclimated to the influx of power and the shared experiences contained in the essences of the Bijuu, he departed from the place of his rebirth and as though taking a step, he was suddenly standing at the spot where he had previously laid. _

_All this had happened in the time it took to blink – in an instant everything had changed. _

* * *

_Madara took a few moments to take in what he was seeing. Just moments ago, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had absorbed the newly made Juubi – his Juubi – and was in the process of burning out, quite literally. Now, the meddlesome, child, was standing there looking at him as though he were a particularly fascinating insect. He was UCHIHA MADARA and he would not be trifled with._

_Madara locked hate filled eyes with the otherworldly blue gaze of his adversary and spat out, "__**Amaterasu**__"._

_The Sage blinked at the roaring black flames bearing down on him and they simply ceased to be. _

_Madara refused to allow himself to stop to consider what just happened, he clapped his hands and a forest burst from the ground, reaching forward to destroy his opponent._

_The Sage tilted his head at the incoming trees and they turned to dust, dispersed on the wind. _

_Enraged beyond any measure, Madara summoned Susanao and wove three hand seals then screamed out, "__**Tengai Shinsei**__!"_

_Knowing what the jutsu did, the remnants of the Shinobi Allied Forces glanced at the skies in time to see three meteorites breach the atmosphere, one after another. Many began to panic as the first meteorite rapidly descended to the spot where they stood. _

_The Sage stood still as the meteorite got closer and closer, and when it was seconds away from impact, he merely raised his hand and extended his finger. Jaws dropped as the meteorite stopped abruptly, with the other two stacking on top of the first. With a sigh, the Sage flicked his finger and with a sonic boom, the meteorites exited the planet's atmosphere. _

_Suddenly, the Sage was standing in front of Madara, but before he could react he found his throat in an unyielding grip. Madara tried and failed to access his chakra and escape. He struggled in the grip of the Being in front of him, much like Naruto had struggled in his chakra bonds earlier on. Madara paused in his struggles as he felt a stirring in the depths of his body. His eyes widened as the source of the feeling became clear. Once more, the remnants of the Shinobi Alliance Forces watched in stunned shock as Madara began to scream, much like Naruto had been screaming when the Gedo Mazo attempted to extract his soul. Quickly connecting the dots, they watched as Madara eventually stilled and his resurrected body crumbled to dust without his soul to inhabit it. _

_The Sage turned and many avoided his gaze, unable to meet the eyes of the newly born primordial being before him. His eyes finally settled on the barely breathing body of Senju Tsunade and in a blink, he was kneeling next to her. Something faint within him told him that the human lying before him was important to him, and he decided to heed it and simply touched her cheek. Before the disbelieving eyes of everyone present, Tsunade's wounds healed up and even her chakra levels were restored. Looking at the man beside her in relief and deep fondness, she asked,_

"_Naruto? Is…is that you Naruto? Are you really Naruto?"_

_The Sage wondered if Naruto was his name. Yes, he thought to himself, Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto…no, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto…yes, that was it, he was Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. _

_And with that, the Sage remembered. _

_Smiling softly at her he replied, "Heh, you shouldn't be pulling such dangerous stunts at your age, Baa-chan."_

_Laughing, with tears flowing freely from her eyes, she grabbed him in a hug and just like that, it finally dawned on everyone watching that the eight year long war had just ended. Cheers erupted everywhere as people grabbed their comrades in hugs, crying tears of joy and relief tinged with sadness._

_It took years, but the world eventually recovered – not completely, but enough. Throughout that time the Sage lived on, not aging, until time had run its course and turned everything he knew into dust. After finally learning how to navigate the paths between realities, the Eternal Sage moved on, replacing any of his counterparts who had been lost to the flow of time for one reason or the other, with Time becoming his only companion._

* * *

Naruto was startled out of his memories by the dispersal of one of his clones. Shaking his head to get rid of lingering memories, he stood up, dusted his shorts and gazed once more at the peaceful village laid out before him. Smiling to himself, he vanished in the direction of the academy for his team assignments; let the games begin.

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	7. Form the mighty ages

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN**:So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**AN 2:** It seems like my punctuations do not carry over well from my text editor. I will try to make sure that the file uploaded is in the proper format.

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated. **

* * *

The people who were present at the entrance to the Academy that morning were able to witness Naruto materialize – already in a smooth walk - in front of the academy. Some of them actually allowed themselves to acknowledge how cool he looked, arriving in such a fashion. Casually making his way inside the Academy, Naruto ignored the muted whispers from his peers and the others standing around the school's entrance; no doubt news of his performance during the graduation exams had already spread. Naruto arrived at his assigned classroom and entered to find that he was the first one there. Shrugging to himself, he proceeded to the single seat at the back; having no intention of ending up seating next to Sasuke and thus suffering the horrendous voices of his fan club. Deciding to kill some time, he took out _The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja_ and began to read it, _again_. His sharp senses detected the approach of a few classmates and thus he didn't even twitch when the door opened to accept four people into the room. The sounds of dragging feet and chewing preceded Shikamaru and Chouji, while the muted sound of buzzing heralded the entrance of Shino. The last student was from a civilian family and, from what Naruto had observed, would probably end up being cannon fodder down the line.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino took the seats in front of Naruto, who hadn't looked up from his book since their entrance. Shikamaru threw a quick and considering glance at Naruto, then just shook his head and mumbled, "Troublesome." Shino, on the other hand, actually turned and addressed Naruto,

"Congratulations on your success in the graduation exams Uzumaki-san."

Naruto finally looked up at that and giving an eye-smile to Shino, he replied,

"Thank you Aburame-san. As I recall, you also did quite well, so congratulations to you too and please feel free to call me Naruto."

"Thank you, and the same to you too."

Both of them returned to their previous positions – Naruto reading his book and Shino seating calmly. By this time Shikamaru had already dozed off, while Chouji just continued munching on his chips. Over the next few minutes, the class slowly filled up with the successful Academy graduates. When Sasuke entered, he cast a briefly assessing gaze at Naruto before taking his seat in the middle of the room. Naruto's sensitive hearing easily picked up the approaching footsteps of two students and judging by their voices, he correctly deduced their identities. A few seconds later, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino burst into the room, obviously having just finished sprinting to the Academy, then began their customary arguments and competition for the seat next to the Uchiha. Iruka came in before they could settle their argument and cowed them into submission.

Naruto glanced up as Iruka came in and smiled as he noticed the absence of Mizuki; the fool was most probably enjoying the hospitality of the T&I Department at the moment. He returned to his book, only peripherally aware of the various team assignments being read out by Iruka. Seeing as he wasn't the dead last this time around, he absently wondered whose team he would be…

"…and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin-sensei is Hatake Kakashi… "

…well then, that answered that. He wondered what convinced the Old Man to place him on the same team as the 'top' two students in his year, until he remembered that as far as the hokage was concerned, Naruto had attempted suicide a few years ago._ Well, that would do it_, he mused to himself. After banishing his thoughts, and noticing Iruka's closing statements and subsequent dismissal for lunch, he returned to his reading.

* * *

Hours later, only the three future members of Team Seven were still seated inside the classroom, waiting for their Jounin-sensei. Sakura had spent the past two hours trying, and subsequently failing, to get Sasuke to go on a date with her. After a particularly vehement denial, she decided to take a little breather, much to the Sasuke's well-hidden relief. She turned her attention to the third member of her team and was surprised to note that he hadn't moved from the spot where he had been reading for the past few hours. Now that she was paying attention to him, she allowed herself to take him in fully. She recalled the time when he used to constantly follow her around, asking her for dates and making her feel so good about herself. No matter how annoyed she had felt at the time, the constant attention and adoration had bolstered her sometimes flagging self-confidence. However, ever since he had missed school for about two months, things had changed. At first, when she noticed that he seemed to be ignoring her, she brushed it off – fully expecting him to get back to pestering her. _It never happened_. It took some time but she eventually came to realize that Naruto _simply didn't care_ about her anymore. It was a surprisingly bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it, she did. She cast a glance at Sasuke, and seeing the closed off expression on his face, she decided to sit quietly by herself, until their sensei arrived.

Sasuke breathed an internal sigh of relief when Sakura finally ceased bothering him. He noticed the glance she threw at the corner and turned to see Naruto sitting there, reading his book. He was almost startled to notice that he had forgotten that there were three people waiting in the classroom. Now that he had noticed his last _teammate_, he remembered his desire to find out more about him. Never one to beat around the bush he addressed him directly,

"Hey, dead…Uzumaki, how did you do so well on the exams if you missed so many important classes?"

Sakura perked up at the question and turned back to Naruto – she too was curious about his previously unknown skill. Without taking his eyes of his book Naruto distractedly replied,

"Did you ever consider that I chose not to attend those classes because I didn't need them?"

Sasuke blinked at Naruto's response. He concluded that Naruto must have meant that he got training outside the academy, thus negating any need to attend the practical academy classes. Still curious, he continued his inquiry,

"And who did you get help from?"

At that, Naruto finally glanced up from his book, and fixing Sasuke with a disinterested look, he retorted,

"Help? Why would I need an instructor when I am fully capable of reading?"

Sasuke found it hard to believe that Naruto had learned all that from scrolls, but before he could continue his questioning, the door was thrown open. He turned in surprise, noticing from the corner of his eye that Naruto was obviously not startled. In the doorway stood a tall gray-haired ninja wearing a facemask very similar to Naruto's. _He even had a book in hand._ The ninja – obviously their Jounin-sensei – ran a bored gaze across the room and spoke in a lazy tone,

"My first impression of you is that you're boring. Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

In a cloud of smoke, he was gone. Sasuke glanced at Sakura then glanced at the empty seat where Naruto used to be. His eyes widened when he realized that Naruto had somehow vanished from the room without his notice. Huffing out a frustrated breath, he left the room, making his way towards the roof.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi suddenly felt eyes on him and casually glanced up from his book. He had to fight down a twitch when he noticed his blonde haired student calmly staring at him. _When the hell did he get here, and how didn't I notice?_ He saw the amusement in Naruto's eyes and narrowed his eye at him. In response to this, Naruto in turn fixed Kakashi with a narrow eyed gaze. Sasuke and Sakura arrived on the roof to find their teacher and teammate engaged in a staring contest. As the two kids drew near, Sakura cleared her throat. In an eerily synchronized motion, Naruto and Kakashi turned to face the two of them and _eye-smiled in unison_. Fighting off creepy shudders they took a seat on either side of Naruto and all three turned to face Kakashi. Deciding to get the ball rolling, Kakashi began,

"Well then, why don't we get started with introductions? I'll go first. My name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes are not your concern, nor are my dislikes. My hobbies and dreams…well, you're much too young to know those," Kakashi concluded with another eye-smile.

Motioning towards Sakura, he indicated for her to go next. She started,

"My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are…_glances at Sasuke with giggles and stifled squealing_…my hobbies are_…rinse and repeat_…I dislike Ino-Pig, and my dream for the future is to…_glance, cue ear piercing squeal"_

Sasuke and Kakashi shook their heads to clear the residual ringing, only to notice Naruto removing ear plugs from his ears with laughter in his eyes. Almost sulking at the betrayal, Kakashi indicated that Sasuke was next. Sasuke began in a solemn tone,

"Uchiha Sasuke…I don't have many likes nor dislikes, and my hobby is training to get stronger. My dream for the future…no, my ambition is to revive my clan and kill a certain man."

At the end of his speech Sakura was gazing adoringly at him while Kakashi was giving him a thoughtful look that expertly hid the frown he wanted to show. Naruto was…_reading his book_. After getting over his surprise at just how indifferent his blonde haired student could be, he motioned for Naruto to go next. As Naruto prepared to begin, he was completely aware of the blatant interest on Sakura's face, as well as the hidden interest on Kakashi's and Sasuke's faces.

"You may call me Uzumaki Naruto. I like the colors red and black. I dislike the color purple. My hobby is music, particularly playing the violin"

Kakashi perked up at that surprising tidbit, as did Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto paid no attention to their reactions however. He instead fixed all three with a suddenly fierce and determined gaze that caused all of them to subconsciously straighten and pay attention,

"My dream for the future…no, the reality of my future…I will become the greatest Shinobi this world has ever known."

The rooftop was silent for a few moments after Naruto's declaration – _which sounded like a foretelling_. Kakashi finally broke the silence after observing his sensei's son for a few moments and decided to wrap things up.

"Very well then, meet me on training ground 7 tomorrow at 6am for a survival test that will determine whether or not you become my genin or return to the academy for remedial training. Oh, and I suggest you don't eat any breakfast; you'll only throw it up. See you."

In a cloud of smoke, he was gone before any of them could respond to his statement. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, determined to pass whatever test came his way the next day. He glanced to his side, only to discover that Naruto had once again _vanished without him knowing_. Gritting his teeth, he immediately shot down Sakura's offer of a date and departed for some training and preparation. Sakura, completely crushed by Sasuke's rejection and feeling anxious for her test tomorrow, also left the rooftop.

* * *

The sound of incoming footsteps forced Sakura out of her daytime fantasy of being Sasuke's wife. Looking up, she was just in time witness the figure of her blonde haired teammate enter the clearing_ a whole three hours_ after they were told to arrive. She inhaled, preparing to lambast her tardy team member when she was cut off by a casual statement from her intended target,

"So his three hour lateness is a regular thing; good to know."

Stunned, and feeling especially foolish for arriving so early, she quieted down and turned away from him, thus missing the amusement shining in his azure eyes. Sasuke merely grunted, refusing to acknowledge that he should have thought of the same thing. Naruto simply walked across the clearing to a tree on the other side, sat down, took out his book and began to read. He was fully aware of the contemplative looks being thrown his way by the other two members of his future team. Completely ignoring said looks, he prevented any amusement from showing on his face when he heard the near silent huff of frustration from Sasuke. Just as Sasuke was about to resume his interrogation from the day before, their late sensei showed up in a puff of smoke. Kakashi merely eye smiled as Sakura screeched her indignation to the high heavens, causing Sasuke to twitch. When her voice had ceased echoing, he calmly took out his ear plugs and tossed a thumbs-up at Naruto, who was failing to muffle his chuckles. Before Sakura could react to that insult, Kakashi's countenance became serious, prompting the three before him to pay attention. He raised two silver bells in one hand and began his instructions,

"The objective of this survival test is to acquire at least one of the bells you see in my hand. You will have until noon to accomplish this task. Anyone who fails to get a bell will be tied to one of the stumps in the clearing and will be denied lunch. Furthermore, the one who didn't get a bell will fail this test and will subsequently be sent back to the academy for another year. Now, begin! "

His instructions left no room for argument and his prospective students vanished into hiding in the surrounding vegetation. Kakashi spared a second to evaluate their stealth,

_Sasuke is well hidden, certainly undetectable to anyone chunin and below. Sakura, on the other hand, isn't too bad, but nothing like a top kunoichi should be. And Naruto…is still standing in front of me._

Giving his final student a vaguely perplexed look he said,

"You are an odd one; shouldn't you be hiding like those two?"

Naruto merely glanced at him then returned to his book. Blinking in muted surprise, Kakashi decided that the kid had the right idea and promptly produced his own literature to begin perusing. He crouched in position, oddly more comfortable that way and continued reading. His sharp hearing picked up approaching footsteps and he subtly went on alert, preparing for any surprise his enigma of a student could have. Instead of attacking however, Naruto merely walked passed him and stopped, and then he too crouched and rested himself lightly against his teacher, and continued reading. Feeling oddly amused by the cheek of his student, he let him rest part of his weight on him, all the while keeping a watch for any attempt on the bells tied to his belt. A handful of minutes later, Sasuke obviously got impatient and launched his attack.

A couple of kunai were launched from Kakashi's left and instinctively, he shifted to move out of the way. His blood ran cold as he suddenly realized that his movement had thrown his other student off balance, thus making it very likely that Naruto would get hit by the kunai. Without even thinking about it, he spun and scooped up his sensei's son and blurred away from the incoming attack. He spared a moment to ensure that his student was fine before he took off to test his black haired student. So preoccupied had he been with getting Naruto out of harm's way that he had failed to notice the faint smirk that curled on said student's lips, nor the fact that said student had demonstrated a complete mastery of the kawarimi no jutsu. Kakashi instead vanished from the clearing, too fast for any but Naruto to see.

Sasuke, who had swiftly changed positions after his failed initial attack, remained crouched on the branch he was on. He quickly threw a punch to his left, only for it to meet his sensei's palm. As though that were a signal, the two burst into a quick and fluid taijutsu exchange. Kakashi ended it by tossing Sasuke away when his hand got close enough to actually touch one of the bells. His eye, however, widened when he noticed the hand seals being woven by Sasuke. His surprised expression never vanished even as a huge fireball leapt the intervening distance between them. When the smoke had finally cleared, Sasuke noticed that nothing remained of his teacher. Looking to the sides and above for him, he was taken off guard when hands erupted from the ground and proceeded to drag him under until only his head remained aboveground. Sasuke glanced up in time to watch his teacher disappear with naught but an eye-smile thrown his way.

Sakura had decided to circle around to Sasuke's position the moment she saw the kunai launched at Kakashi. Ignorant of the noise she made as she moved through the brush, she emerged in a smaller clearing. Looking around to orient herself, she suddenly dove into some bushes – praying that her teacher hadn't noticed her. She peeked out of hiding and sighed in relief when she noticed him still leaning against a tree. Kakashi meanwhile hid a smile at his pink haired student's adorable naivety. Sakura, rightfully doubtful of her chances against a ninja of Kakashi's caliber, turned to_ stealthily_ make her way in the other direction. She heard a rustle in front of her and glanced up _into the smiling eye of her teacher_. She gasped and recoiled in shock, only to lose sight of him. Looking around frantically, she turned at the sound of a voice coming from the right. Knowing who owned said voice, her face broke out into a relieved and smitten smile as she prepared to meet _her Sasuke-kun_. The smile fled from her face as she saw Sasuke drag himself into view – _his remaining leg bent at an odd angle, fingers missing and blood leaking from numerous wounds on his body._ Unable to face the vision before her, she clenched her eyes shut, let loose a scream of abject terror, and slumped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Musing absently to himself, Kakashi wondered if he had overdone it. Shrugging the thought away, he returned to the clearing and promptly stumbled in surprise when he found his third student still casually reading his book. Moving towards him, he opened his mouth, intending to admonish his lazy student, only to have to duck a sudden airborne spinning kick aimed at his head. Before his eye had finished widening he promptly switched places with a log in time to avoid getting hit by a ball of lightning fired by a clone originally behind him. Finally getting a moment to orient himself, his head snapped up at the sound of a page being turned to find Naruto still in place reading his book. He furrowed his brows at that and nonchalantly tossed a kunai at his student's head. Naruto simply caught it by its ring and returned it at twice the speed, forcing Kakashi to shift out of the way of the approaching kunai. Hidden in the shadow of that kunai was another one with an explosive tag attached to it, which Kakashi only saw at the lost moment. Once the resulting explosion had settled, he stepped out of the place he had switched to and closely regarded Naruto – _still sitting there and reading_.

"Well, you're better than I expected. I might actually have to start taking you seriously."

Naruto let loose a chuckle and stood up facing his teacher. In another eerily synchronized motion, they both slipped their respective books away and prepared to engage one another. Kakashi started off with a blurring punch aimed at Naruto's torso. Slapping the attack aside, Naruto retaliated with a lightning coated jab to Kakashi's face, smoothly shifting it into an elbow jab and then a rising knee as Kakashi deflected each subsequent attack. They continued in a swift and fluid Taijutsu exchange, with Kakashi pleasantly surprised at Naruto's ability to keep up with the pace he was setting. Finally, believing his student to be wide open, Kakashi slammed a kick into an airborne Naruto, only to clench his teeth as lightning coursed through his body from the dispersed lightning clone. He mitigated the damage using his own inherent lightning chakra and pivoted on the spot, fluidly catching and returning the five shuriken launched at his back. Quickly forming hand seals he called out, **Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu **(Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique) and the five shuriken became a hundred. Naruto inhaled deeply and then blew out a chakra laced gust of wind while saying, **Fuuton: Renkuudan **(Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet). The wind bullet slammed the shuriken off course and continued on to Kakashi who responded with a wind bullet of his own, canceling out Naruto's attack. Kakashi glanced up as he heard, **Raisou: Ikazuchi no** **Utage **(Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning), and witnessed Naruto stomp his foot on the ground. He jumped into the air as lightning raced along the floor towards his position. In midair, he was unable to react in time as Naruto faced him and calmly intoned, **Raiton: Rairyuu no Tatsumaki **(Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado), launching a tornado of lightning at Kakashi. The attack impacted with Kakashi and exploded in a surge of lightning. All of a sudden, a kunai was placed along Naruto's jugular and Kakashi lazily spoke,

"You definitely have some smooth moves, but you still have a ways to go."

Naruto merely glanced at him from the corner of his eye and chuckled. Confused at his student's reaction and completely sure that he wasn't holding a clone, he asked,

"Care to share what amuses you?"

It was then that he felt the cool length of Naruto's ninjato resting with its tip poised a hairsbreadth from his chest and crackling with tightly leashed lightning chakra. He couldn't help it – he threw back his head and laughed. When he got over his fit of amusement, he disengaged from Naruto just in time for the alarm clock he set to go off, indicating that the test was over. Shaking his head at his most surprising student he left to fetch the rest of his team. When he arrived at the three stumps in the clearing, Sasuke and Sakura in tow, he found Naruto sitting on the middle stump with his book in hand. In a blur, he had Sakura tied to the leftmost post and a gag in her mouth to spare his sensitive ears. He turned to take in his students and pronounced,

"Well, you all f-"

The sound of bells tinkling cut him off and he slowly turned to Naruto, who was still reading, but in whose second hand was held the two silver bells. Suppressing the shock that threatened to show on his face, he asked,

"Ho…and at what point during our little dance did you steal those?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that and said,

"During the dance? Never, I actually just stole them from you when you were tying Sakura up there."

Seeing the confusion on their faces – hidden in Kakashi's case, he continued,

"At the beginning, when you were being my knight in shining armor, I filled the bells with chakra – the first step to initiating a successful Kawarimi, and then just now switched them with the chakra laced air next to me."

Silence met his explanation and he looked around to find Sasuke and Sakura looking stunned. Kakashi, with a detectable note of approval in his voice, said,

"Very well done Naruto, very well done indeed. Now, seeing as you have two bells, which of the others will you give one to?"

Naruto gave off an amused huff and with a flick of his wrist, Sakura was free of the ropes binding her and before either she or Sasuke could react to that, he flicked one bell at each of them, which they caught reflexively. Turning to Kakashi, Naruto said,

"Your instructions were to obtain a bell, not necessarily maintain possession of it once we did. So, since I have 'obtained' a bell, and so have Sasuke and Sakura, I guess we all pass."

Kakashi, seeing the dawning hope on Sakura's face, merely chuckled and replied,

"Nice try Naruto, but I remember saying that you had until noon."

Naruto, still looking calm and unruffled, spoke,

"That's true, and I'm sure if you look at the clock, you will find that _someone_ had changed the alarm to go off about 20 minutes earlier."

Blinking in shock, the others looked at the clock and noticed that Naruto was indeed correct; noon was in six minutes. Giving Naruto a contemplative looked tinged with exasperated fondness, Kakashi finally said,

"Okay then. I could pass you on that technicality, and I will, only if one of you can tell me the main purpose behind this test."

Looking a little perplexed at that statement, Sakura offered up an answer,

"Umm, you wanted to gauge our levels sensei?"

The look on Sasuke's face said that he agreed with Sakura, and so he frowned when Kakashi shook his head. Catching the look on Sasuke's face, he passed him over – correctly deducing that Sasuke had the same thing to say as Sakura – and turned to Naruto for his input.

Naruto once again got that look in his eyes that made those listening to him lean forward in complete attention. In a solemn tone that cut through the sudden stillness, he gave his own answer,

"You are a jounin level ninja – Hatake Kakashi, reputably the strongest current Konoha Shinobi excepting the Hokage. There is no way that a bunch of fresh Academy graduates would stand a chance against you. You wanted to gauge our ability to function as a unit…as a team…as one. You wanted to make us learn that we are rarely, if ever, stronger individually than we are together. After all, those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

Once more there was silence after one of Naruto's declarations. This time however, it was a thoughtful one, filled with burgeoning feelings of camaraderie and team spirit. After getting over his surprise, Kakashi stared at Naruto and realized that he had never seen such a stunning resemblance between Naruto and his sensei as he did in that moment. Sitting there with the wind in his sun-kissed golden hair and his eyes, such a focused and clear blue, Naruto cut a striking figure indeed. Smiling contentedly to himself, Kakashi finally broke the silence,

"Yes, that is entirely correct. Those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. That is the tenet I live by, and the tenet I hope you will all come to live by in the future. Congratulations, you all pass. Meet me on the bridge tomorrow morning for our first official day as team 7."

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	8. Of eternity

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN:** So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.**

* * *

Kakashi watched his team's interactions from his perch in the tree. His presence was so muted that only Anbu level ninja and above could have possibly detected him. Still knowing that, he found himself unsurprised when Naruto flicked a brief an almost unnoticeable glance in his direction. Noticing that he had a few minutes before he had to make his entrance, he allowed himself to muse on the two months that had passed since the formation of Team 7. He was simultaneously both amazed and stumped by the dynamic which existed between his three students. He was amazed because he had never seen, _never even heard_, of such an efficient team; their missions rating, so far, averaged a staggering 98%. What stumped him however, was that regardless of how successful their mission history, there was nothing even remotely resembling teamwork between them. Kakashi knew that Sasuke felt threatened by Naruto's heretofore unseen proficiency. It took one sparring session and two minutes for Kakashi to accept what the Bell Test had hinted at – Naruto was heads and shoulders above his peers. _Hell, the kid was heads above some Chunin in the village_. Sasuke repeatedly got frustrated any time he had a spar with Naruto. No matter what moves he pulled out, whatever clever tricks he thought he had up his sleeve, Naruto remained unruffled and undefeated. Compounding the issue was the fact that Naruto clearly had no interest in becoming Sasuke's rival. The only time that he ever agreed to spar with him was during team spars, when Kakashi would ask him to. The sheer disinterest set Sasuke's teeth on edge, forcing him to give his all in every encounter they had, _all for naught_.

Kakashi remembered, a few weeks after passing his team, when he asked Naruto who had taught him taijutsu. You see, he asked because the boy's taijutsu style was almost like nothing he had ever seen; being friends with a taijutsu expert like Maito Gai ensured that Kakashi was well educated on a variety of Taijutsu styles. Every time he sparred with his student, he noticed that his moves were like variations of standard Taijutsu katas. It was almost like listening to a different dialect of a language he knew well. When he asked Naruto for the identity of his taijutsu teacher, the answer he received perplexed him. Naruto had replied,

"I learnt from…life, I guess; from the striking snake and the stalking tiger, from the leaping monkey and the hunting wolf, from the flowing river and the turbulent wind, from everything around me…from life."

Kakashi had wondered at what his student meant. He could never have known that Naruto was actually telling him the truth. Centuries into his eternal existence, after he had learnt and mastered all the taijutsu styles that existed in whatever reality he found himself in, Naruto sought to go deeper. He visited mountain monasteries, looking for the ancient monks who had discovered the art of taijutsu. From them he learned the history of Taijutsu and its origins. He learned how the first of them had observed the way the animals and environment around them had behaved. He learned to watch how the relentless yet fluid motion of a river wore away the immoveable rock in its path. He learned to observe as the wind went from peaceful and calm to ferocious and cutting in an instant. He went back to the source and learnt it all. The result was a taijutsu style that comprised of the strengths of each style, all refined to their purest forms. Much like with Chinese whispers, the passing down of taijutsu styles from generation to generation introduced additions that resulted in the final form being changed from its original ancestor. Hence the reason why Naruto's moves seemed similar to some of the styles Kakashi was familiar with – he was seeing the taijutsu styles in their pure and unchanged form.

Nonetheless, the fact remained that Naruto was at a level that put him permanently out of reach of his teammates, though Sasuke refused to believe that Naruto would always be the better Shinobi. In his spars with his blond student, Kakashi always won of course, but doing so always required more effort on his part. However, after a handful of spars, he had realized that even though Naruto always lost against him, _he almost never took a hit_. At first he had wondered if his memory was just faulty, but after the next three spars, he realized that he was right the first time. Concerned that he was being too easy on his student, he started to kick their spars into high gear – at about mid Chunin level – and noticed that Naruto began to sustain a few more injuries. So, every time he sparred with Naruto, he fought him at a level noticeably higher than he did with Sasuke – which Sasuke noticed of course. Still, even fighting him at a more demanding pace, Kakashi still suspected that Naruto wasn't giving it his all but he had no proof of it and so dismissed his suspicions.

* * *

Sasuke had spent the past few minutes staring at his other male teammate standing at the railing on the bridge, staring at the water passing by underneath. It had been two months and still he was no closer to surpassing Naruto. It irked him something fierce that a no-name like Naruto was so far above him in terms of skill that he couldn't even touch him in their spars. What was even worse was that Naruto always looked unruffled, no matter what Sasuke threw his way. Sasuke had taken to perusing the hidden jutsu library located in the Uchiha Clan Compound. He practiced some of the D-ranked and C-ranked fire jutsu, hoping to find something he could use against his teammate – _nothing ever worked_. He would launch a fire ball at Naruto, only to be forced to dodge his own fireball combined with a wind bullet. Somehow, Naruto was always a step ahead of him and it annoyed him greatly. He kept trying to unlock his Sharingan, fully confident that Naruto would be no match for him then, but was having no luck there. Putting aside his thoughts on the matter, Sasuke turned his gaze away from Naruto and stared into space.

It had been a long two months for Sakura, and things did not seem to be looking up. After Kakashi had passed them as a team, she felt as though her dream had finally come true. She was on a team with her Sasuke-kun and nothing was ever going to come between them again. Her dreams were ruthlessly shattered during the first spar she had with Sasuke. She had managed to convince herself that he wouldn't actually fight her. Her delusions had lasted up until a spinning kick from him had slammed into her face, knocking her out. She woke up to find herself sitting by the side of the training ground and no Sasuke worrying over her – no, he was instead involved in a spar with Naruto, _which he was losing_. Still, she managed to repress that incident somehow and went back to being a fan girl, albeit a slightly more subdued one. As more and more rejections from Sasuke piled up with no buffering declarations from Naruto, she found herself less and less able to summon up the same feelings of adoration she once held for Sasuke. Over time, she slowly became less enamored with him and began to think for herself. She also began to pay more attention to the lessons Kakashi attempted to teach them. She had improved somewhat, and now, she was at the level of a proper academy graduate and not just a civilian. Regardless of her change in attitude, she still had moments where she would forget herself and revert to her former behavior. If she were honest with herself, she would realize that her change to a slightly more serious kunoichi was still related to her desire for Sasuke. Having spent so long with him, she had come to understand that there was almost nothing Sasuke hated more than weakness. Therefore, her taking her Kunoichi skills more seriously was rooted in a desire to finally have Sasuke acknowledge her – yet _her efforts were for naught_. At first she was confused, until she noticed that every time they had a team meeting, Sasuke would always stare at Naruto…_Naruto!_ She could tell that it was Naruto's apparent skill which surprised and annoyed Sasuke. Still, she couldn't see passed her jealousy and slowly, bitterness began to fester in her heart. She threw a slightly malicious look at Naruto, who was still staring at the river which flowed underneath the bridge.

* * *

Kakashi shook himself out of his thoughts and noting the time, prepared to make his entrance. He saw that Naruto was having one of his rare moments of introspection and as such had his guard down somewhat. Kakashi timed his attack perfectly; without any warning signs whatsoever, he was suddenly standing beside Naruto, his leg already in a smooth sweeping motion and his hand jabbing forward. Naruto had been completely aware of Kakashi's presence and thus he could have avoided what happened next if he wanted to. However, in keeping with Kakashi's intended result, Naruto was flipped over the railing he was leaning against, and splashed into the river below. Sasuke and Sakura both felt petty vindication at how wet Naruto was when he finally emerged from the water. With an eye-smile, Kakashi stated,

"That's a good look on you Naruto."

Naruto froze for a moment, and then he slowly turned towards Kakashi and smiled at him. With the feeling of lead in his stomach, Kakashi remembered who it was he had just pranked – _Konoha's number one prankster_. Kakashi shook off his dawning feeling of terror and turned to head towards the mission office to obtain a mission for his team. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Naruto make a hand seal and channel chakra heated air along his body to dry himself off. Shaking his head at his ever surprising student, he returned to his thoughts. He had finally decided to take his team on their first C-rank mission. He was fully aware that the only reason he felt comfortable doing so was because of the amount of faith he had in Naruto's skill. He was confident that if anything came up, Naruto would be able to get his team out of it, and if he couldn't, well, he was not called _Sharingan no Kakashi_ for nothing. With that final thought, he returned to his ever present _Icha Icha_ novel and continued to walk towards his destination.

Naruto calmly walked behind Kakashi and in between his other two teammates. Since the making of Team 7 two months prior, he had been aware of the feelings of his teammates towards his person. Not being a vindictive person by nature, he never went out of his way to exacerbate the situation, but he wasn't one to roll over for anyone either. He found that after living for so long as he had, it was practically impossible to care about the bruised and battered egos of _little children_ or the petty jealousy inspired from _puppy crushes_. One ray of sunshine though, was his relationship with his sensei. It felt kind of nice to have an older brother figure in him, one who he could horse around with from time to time. He realized that the incident from two years ago must have played a part in scaring Kakashi out of his indifference. Regardless, he quite enjoyed the interactions he shared with Kakashi. His fondness for Kakashi notwithstanding, he was going to get him back for his actions that morning. So, as they approached the door to the mission office, Naruto cast his senses out to confirm that Iruka and the Sandaime were present, along with quite a number of other Shinobi…_Showtime_.

As Team 7 approached the door, Naruto shifted his gait to make it seem as though he were attempting, _and failing_, to conceal a limp. Before Kakashi or any of his other teammates could wonder at that, they entered the mission office and immediately drew the gaze of the Sandaime. Sarutobi's sharp eyes had easily picked up the inconsistency in Naruto's stride and taking into consideration the boy's phenomenal healing factor, he knew that for Naruto to still be limping now, he must have sustained a grave injury indeed. With barely detectable concern, he asked

"Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto glanced up with wide blue eyes, looking like a deer caught in headlights. He then promptly blushed to the roots of his hair and began to fidget…_fidget_…in place. With rising concern on the Sandaime's part and slowing dawning horror on Kakashi's, Sarutobi leaned forward with furrowed brows. By this point, Iruka had also noticed that something was wrong and he too focused on Naruto. Naruto opened his mouth, and in a _coy_ and _shy_ tone, he said,

"Umm…it's just that…umm…it's just that it was my first time doing _that_ with a man of his caliber."

_Pin…drop…silence._

Sarutobi's face looked to be carved out of granite, and Iruka's eyes had the dawning light of intended murder in them. The rest of the Shinobi present had paused what they were doing and focused on what was happening. Noticing that he now had the full attention of the entire room, Naruto had to fight to maintain his innocent façade as he wove his magic,

"Umm…late yesterday, when we were doing _it_…Kaka-sensei and I…it was slightly painful since it was my first time doing _that_."

At this point, Kakashi was staring dumbly at his blond haired student, his book hanging limply from his fingers. Peripherally he was aware of the rising killing intent emanating from the Sandaime and Iruka, as well as the increasing amounts of suspicion and contempt in the gazes of his fellow Shinobi. For all that, he could do nothing but stutter out,

"What…you…Naruto…what are you talking about?"

Naruto looked down and twisted his fingers in his shirt – blatantly ripping off the moves of a certain shy Hyuuga princess. He glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye and his face flushed further. He then looked up and gained a dreamy look in his blue eyes which combined with his flushed cheeks presented such an entrancing image that people watching could see how Kakashi might have done…_that_…to him. Never one to stop while he was ahead, Naruto twisted the knife further; with a dreamy tone to go with the look in his eyes, he continued,

"Yesterday…the movement of our bodies…the repeated thud of flesh hitting flesh…the grunts and pants of exertion…the sweat and smell from such physical activity…feeling him _all over _me…telling me how good I looked _wet_…and the pleasant ache that told me I was going to be _deliciously sore_ the next day…Kaka-sensei was a little rough…but…but I liked it…it let me feel it properly."

At this point, some people were discretely wiping off bloodied noses. Sakura had turned bright red in the middle of Naruto's _recounting_ and Sasuke had a blush suffusing his face. Almost simultaneously, the two glanced at Kakashi and shifted away from him as though he were about to pounce and do _that_ to them as well. The sound of a pipe being broken by a too strong grip cut through the silence in the room. Slowly and carefully, Kakashi turned to look at the Sandaime and instead found the Kami no Shinobi staring back at him. Before the Hokage could leave his desk and extract Kakashi's entrails via his nose, Iruka was on his feet, glaring murder at Kakashi and spat out,

"Naruto, are you telling me that…that this…_person_…touched you yesterday?"

Like a switch being thrown, Naruto was suddenly back to his usual clam and aloof self. Before the room could fully adjust to such an abrupt change in demeanor, Naruto smoothly replied,

"Of course he did Iruka-sensei. It's kind of hard to avoid physical contact during an all-out spar" then with an amused twinkle in his eye, he continued, "Why? What did you think I was talking about?"

The entire room practically face faulted. They all looked up at the sound of a shutter clicking to find Naruto gleefully taking numerous pictures of Kakashi's pale, gaping, and stunned visage. The silence that had descended was suddenly broken by muffled snickers from the eternal chunin pair – Kotetsu and Izumo. Like a dam giving way, the entire room erupted into laughter at Kakashi's expense, with even the Hokage chuckling to himself…_and to think that I thought that Naruto had given up his mischievous ways_. After the room had quieted down some, with a few snickers let loose every now and then, Kakashi collected himself and trying to act like nothing happened, stepped forward to request a C-rank mission for his team. However, he internally vowed to get his blue eyed student back for this.

* * *

The four members of Team 7 walked alongside the caravan at various points – Kakashi in the far back, Sakura and Sasuke along the middle, and Naruto in front. They were currently on their third C-rank mission to safely escort one of Konoha's more successful merchants to the Land of Fire's capital city. Their client, Hayatou Ichirou, had received some threatening letters from an anonymous source. As such, the Hokage had offered the service of one of his best Genin teams – Team 7 – led by legendary ninja, _Sharingan no Kakashi_. Kakashi had informed his students that unlike their first two C-rank missions – simple deliveries that went smoothly, this mission they were on had a high possibility of bandit action. He was not worried though, not from misplaced arrogance, but from complete confidence he had in the skills of the members of his team. The past three months since his team was formed has seen significant improvements in two of his students. He had refined Sasuke's taijutsu and added a few fire jutsu to his arsenal. For Sakura he had procured a few medical jutsu scrolls and some genjutsu scrolls as well, while working on improving her abysmal physical attributes like strength and stamina. As for his last student, well, he provided something of a sparring partner to help keep Naruto in tip top shape. He had long since come to accept that his third student was significantly more skilled that any other in his generation, and that he would never know just how powerful. He had also taught his students the tree walking exercise, although he got the distinct impression that Naruto was just humouring him. He had also made an effort to discover his student's chakra affinities and found that Sasuke had a major affinity for fire, and a minor one for lightning. Sakura had a single affinity for earth based jutsu. And Naruto, surprisingly, had a major affinity for lightning, though he had demonstrated the ability to use any of the other four chakra types.

A few decades after Naruto had begun jumping realities, he had realized that he needed to do something to keep his life from being dull and monotonous. So, he came up with a system where during a new life, he would stick to one branch of the ninja arts. Sometimes he would mainly focus on Taijutsu, and maybe even only on one style. Other times, he became for kenjutsu what Maito Gai was for taijutsu. And yet other times he only utilised combination affinities like Hyoton (Ice release), Mokuton (Wood release), and so on. He still remembered a particular timeline in which Gaara was too far gone to save; he had gone full Bijuu in the stadium during the Chunin Selection Exams. Before chaos had fully descended, Naruto had calmly clapped his hands and in a voice that cut through the rising panic, he intoned,

**Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan** (Wood Release Secret Technique: Birth of the Dense Woodland)

Jaws had dropped in stunned shock as numerous trees promptly erupted from the ground, bound, and then subdued _Ichibi no Shukaku_. Ah, good times. Regardless, this time around he had chosen to present Lightning as his main chakra affinity.

Naruto quickly refocused on the present as his acute sense picked up the presence of a huge number of civilians somewhere down the path. Utilizing the pre-agreed signal, he subtly notified Sasuke and Sakura of an impending ambush; he was confident that Kakashi was already aware of the hidden bandits. With practiced movements, the civilians in the merchant train moved closer to the carriages as Sasuke and Sakura spread out in preparation. Sakura fought to keep her hands from shaking as she realized that she would soon have to put into practice all that Kakashi had taught her these past three months. Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fists – the only sign of his nerves, before he silently berated himself for such weakness. He reminded himself that he was at a level where common bandits were merely nuisances. Furthermore, and here he threw a glance at his ever unruffled teammate, this was a chance to show Naruto that he was more than his equal. He took a deep breath and released it just as the first of the bandits sprung out of hiding.

Sasuke's arms were already in motion, blurring as he released shuriken after shuriken towards the group approaching from the left of the caravan. Sakura hesitated only a moment before she too joined Sasuke in taking out as many of the bandits as she could before they entered close range. By the time the attacking bandits had gotten close enough to engage in close combat, half of them had fallen to the deadly cloud of projectiles hurled at them. Sakura was not even aware that tears were flowing from her eyes as her relatively weak taijutsu was more than enough to take down bandit after bandit. Sasuke's eyes were grim and focused as he cut through the group of bandits around him. He didn't even flinch as his kunai penetrated through the skull of an attacking bandit; the night of his family's massacre had long since desensitized him to such bloodshed. Naruto and Kakashi had ignored the approaching bandits, continuing to read their respective books. The bandits, seeing their disinterest, became incensed and surged on more vigorously. The moment they entered into close range with Kakashi, it was all over. Kakashi's figure flickered in place, and one by one, like puppets with their strings cut, the attacking bandits began to fall with their throats slit.

Naruto, on the other hand, did not react until the bandit in front of the charging horde was practically breathing on him. The lead bandit screamed out, "Die!" and brought his raised sword down on Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura whirled around at the sound of the maddened shout in time to witness the descending blade bite into Naruto's shoulder, stopping at his chest. Before a ferocious grin could form on the bandit's face, Naruto's calm voice carried on the wind, originating from the top of the leading carriage, "**Kai**". The Naruto who had just gotten cut exploded with a crackling surge of supercharged lightning. The bandit in contact with him was flash fried to ash instantly, while powerful bolts of lightning leapt from surrounding bandit to surrounding bandit – short-circuiting their brains and stopping their hearts. After a several seconds long lightshow, all was finally still. The disturbed dust cleared to reveal the charred and smoking corpses of about ten bandits. The civilians, Sasuke and Sakura all stared at the scene of destruction, until they were distracted by the sound of a page being turned. They all looked to the top of the first carriage to find Naruto still reading his damnable book, as though he had not just wiped out a group of bandits in one move.

* * *

A few minutes after the ambush – after Sakura had finished throwing up, though her shakes still persisted – the caravan resumed its journey, with the ninjas in their original positions. Kakashi had interrogated one of the surviving bandits to find out if there were any more attackers lying in wait. He learned that one of Hayatou's rivals had contracted an infamous bandit group to rob and kill him. The first ambush had been carried out by a third of the bandit army, the rest laid in wait further down. They even had one or two genin dropouts among them. Kakashi had deemed his team sufficient enough to proceed. Nearly an hour later, Naruto and Kakashi picked up on the presence of the remaining bandits. Noticing that the main force was concentrated in one place further down the road, Kakashi decided that they would take the fight to them. Signaling his students to gather around, Kakashi laid out a plan of attack – Sakura would provide long range support using kunai and shuriken, while Naruto and Sasuke would engage the bandits in close combat. Kakashi had chosen to observe his students, and would only step in if needed. Getting a nod from his students, he motioned for them to move out.

Sakura received a scroll from Naruto and, realizing that it was a storage scroll, opened it to find a ready supply of kunai. She blinked in surprise at the gesture and only then realized that she had used up her supply of projectiles in the previous…She quickly cut that thought off before she could be sick again. She took a deep breath and got into position up in a tree that afforded her full view of the gathered bandits. Sasuke circled around to approach the gathered bandits from the other side, while Naruto went straight ahead – a classic pincer manoeuver.

The seventy bandits had no idea of the events that were about to befall them. The first indication that something was wrong was when the bandit closest to Sakura's position slumped over with a kunai sticking out of his forehead. A fireball launched from Sasuke's position took out three bandits standing close to each other, further worsening the chaos that had descended on the gathered attackers. Into this chaos, Naruto appeared – fluid and silent like the wind, he moved through the group of gathered bandits, his ninjato flashing like quicksilver, ending lives with every sweeping movement. Even Sasuke had been momentarily stunned at the grace with which Naruto used his blade. Shaking himself out of it, he drew dual kunais and charged into the fray. He killed bandits left and right using the Uchiha Interceptor Style, as well as interspacing his taijutsu assaults with the Grand Fireball Jutsu. Sakura rained kunai down on the bandits from above, taking care not to hit any of her teammates. A few minutes after they began, all the bandits lay dead at their feet. Sasuke was panting and covered in blood. He cast a gaze at Naruto to find him unwinded and untouched by any of the blood he had spilt. In that moment, looking at Naruto calmly surveying the massacre he had just wrought, Sasuke realized just what his teammate was capable of. He allowed himself to acknowledge that sometimes, Naruto simply scared him. Sakura was sitting slumped on the branch she had been standing on. Thankfully, this time she wasn't throwing up; she was merely shaking. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Naruto turn to face her, his eyes narrowed. Before she could wonder at his actions, he disappeared from her vision, only to appear next to her with his sword blocking the katana that had been aimed at her neck. She barely had time to flinch in shock before Naruto kicked her attacker away, and vanished to take care of him.

Sasuke had seen Naruto appear next to Sakura in time to save her life. Since he was alert, he was able to sense the ninja approaching from behind. He smoothly pivoted, deflected the strike aimed at his torso and responded with a punishing blow that connected with his opponent's head. The blow forced some distance between the two combatants and Sasuke took a moment to assess his attacker. The other ninja was obviously at most a genin and Sasuke was confident that he could take him. He surged forward and engaged his opponent in a taijutsu battle which he ruthlessly dominated. Finally, after a few minutes, Sasuke created an opening into which he buried a kunai and watched dispassionately as his assailant bled out. He turned around only to receive a boot to the face that launched him into a tree. With his head ringing and his lungs struggling to breathe, he forced his eyes open to meet the malicious gaze of another ninja – this one obviously above genin level. He forced himself to his feet, preparing to engage this new enemy, knowing that he was quite possibly too drained to emerge victorious. The attacking ninja wove hand seals and allowed a bloodthirsty grin to appear on his face as he pronounced, **Doton: Doryuudan **(Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet). Sasuke watched grimly as a dragon head made of earth emerged from the ground and aimed at him. His muscles coiled, preparing to launch him to the side, when both combatants were interrupted by another voice intoning, **Raiton: Raikyu** (Lightening Release: Lightning Ball). A bright blue ball of tightly leashed lightning ploughed through the head of the rising earth dragon and continued on to the enemy ninja, who only just jumped out of the way.

Naruto landed in front of Sasuke, facing their mutual enemy. Sasuke, who was too tired to put up a fuss about being rescued, allowed his body to slide down the tree he was leaning against. A clone seemed to step out of Naruto's back, and it moved forward to tend to his wounds using a first aid kit Naruto handed it. Without taking his eyes off his opponent, Naruto spoke with his ever calm tone,

"You are the last enemy left alive. Surrender and I will spare you."

Both Sasuke and the ninja were taken aback at the finality in Naruto's statement. Shaking off any hesitation the chunin level ninja might have felt, he prepared to engage this obvious genin. Up in the branches, hidden from all but Naruto's senses, Kakashi watched as his blond haired student defended his teammate. He decided to take this opportunity to see if he could finally gauge his enigmatic student's level. The enemy chunin rapidly covered the distance between Naruto and himself and launched a spinning kick at his head. Naruto's right arm came up and blocked the opening attack. Not giving his assailant any chance to recover, Naruto's left hand came up with his ninjato aimed to pierce the ninja's chest, only to go through a log as his opponent replaced himself. Naruto ducked as a katana cut through the place his neck had been moments before. He spun around and deflected a thrust aimed at his chest, and continued to parry all attacks coming his way with casual ease. He noticed that the more he toyed around with his opponent, the angrier and sloppier his motions became. Deciding that he needed one more push, he turned his body away from his enemy, and while his right hand kept on parrying all attacks aimed at him, his left hand reached into his pouch, pulled out his ever faithful book, and he began to read. All the people present in the clearing gaped at him, the attacking ninja included. With a vein throbbing in his head, he stomped his foot and screamed out, **Doton: Doryuusou **(Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears). The ground around Naruto surged upwards in the form of hardened spikes of stone. Before any of the rising spears could harm him, Naruto stretched his sword out and spun his body in a circle while saying, **Raiton: Kangekiha** (Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration). Lightning surged down his blade and erupted in a straight line from the tip, resulting in a ten foot long blade of condensed lightning chakra with which he described a circle, ten feet in radius. The lightning cut through the spikes as though they were not even there. When he came out of his spin, he was facing the ninja and before the ninja could launch another attack, Naruto indicated that he should look at his feet. Almost against his will, his gaze dropped down to find a kunai planted in front of him. Bewildered, he looked left and right to find kunai there as well, almost as though he were standing in a triangle. With a dawning sense of dread he looked up in time to hear Naruto speak, **Raiton: Kaminari Shibari** (Lightning Release: Thunder Binding). Lightning burst forth from each of the three kunai to form a pyramid of crackling energy. The ninja struck one of the walls of the barrier with his sword, only to drop it as a current was grounded via his body, resulting in a painful shock.

Seeing that the enemy was safely contained, Naruto turned a bland look up at Kakashi's hiding place causing his sensei's eyes to widen in shock. Brushing off his surprise, he shunshined to his student's position and patted him on his head with an eye smile. Sakura had gotten out of her tree already and was finishing the job Naruto's clone had started in bandaging up Sasuke's wound. Both she and Sasuke had been stunned to see the way their teammate handled the enemy ninja, both fully aware that neither of them could have faced an opponent of that caliber. Kakashi turned his attention to the chunin, who paled when he recognized the legendary ninja that was eyeing him like one of his ninken would eye a steak. Motioning for Naruto to release the lightning prison, he blurred forward and took hold of the chunin, then vanished to question him. The screams of pain and terror, which originated from the direction Kakashi took the enemy ninja, served to remind his three students that for all his laziness and goofing off, their sensei was still the legendary Shinobi, _Copy Ninja Kakashi_.

Kakashi finished interrogating his prisoner and determined that there would be no more ambushes along the way. He returned to his students and instructed them on how to clean up after such battles – even showing them how to scavenge any useful items. After the three students of Team 7 had cleared up the dead bodies, with Sasuke getting to use his fire jutsu on the bodies, Kakashi led them back to the caravan. He was pleasantly surprised to note that Naruto had left a few clones to make sure that the caravan remained unharmed while they were taking care of the last of the bandits. In short order the merchant train resumed its journey and with no further complications, finally arrived at their destination. Kakashi got the mission scroll signed and turned to lead his team back to Konoha. The cry of a messenger falcon drew his attention and noticing the Konoha symbol on its band, he raised a hand for it to land on. He retrieved the message and read it quickly. When he realized that he did not need to respond, he allowed the falcon to leave and turned to face his team. His voice was grim as he spoke,

"Team 10 has requested immediate backup. Their jounin-sensei is injured and we are the closest team to them."

Sakura perked up at the opportunity to meet Ino again and asked him where they were going. The answer came to Naruto before Kakashi spoke it,

"The Land of Waves"

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	9. Little deeds of kindness

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN**: So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.**

* * *

Kakashi's sensitive nose finally picked up the scent of a large body of water up ahead. _Finally!_ _We're almost there_. He had been leading his team at a punishing pace, cutting a direct path from the Land of Fire's capital to the Land of Water. They had had to stop for a break once, when Sakura missed the jump to the branch ahead of her due to fatigue – only Naruto's quick reaction had saved her from serious injury. He had been glad to notice that while Sasuke had been slightly winded, he could still clearly continue for longer. Neither he nor Naruto had even felt the exertion of the pace yet. After that quick break, they had resumed their tree jumping towards wave and were now finally approaching it.

Kakashi stealthily led his team on a circuitous route to the targets house; intending to conceal their presence from any hostiles in the area, for as long as he could. When they got close enough to the client's house, they dropped down to walk the rest of the way. Walking at the head of the formation, his lack of reading material expressing the level of his seriousness, Kakashi cut an intimidating figure. Without breaking stride, he casually called out,

"Genin Nara, report."

Sakura and Sasuke were startled – though Sasuke hid his surprise better – and turned to notice Shikamaru emerge from a shadowed portion of the forest they were cutting through. Running a lazy gaze over the team, he replied in a voice tinged with relief,

"We encountered the first sign of hostilities a few hours after leaving Konoha – two chunin, The Demon Brothers. Asuma-sensei took them out then got the full story from Tazuna-san. Ino wanted to continue and eventually managed to convince sensei to as well. Next we encountered A-rank missing in, Momochi Zabuza. Sensei engaged with him and got injured, though he was able to injure him in return."

Given a simple nod to his report, Kakashi continued on towards the house in the clearing, Shikamaru following along with the rest of Team 7. Before he got to the door, it was flung open to reveal the visibly relieved face of Yamanaka Ino. Rushing forward, the blonde haired kunoichi spoke in an anxious tone,

"Kakashi-sensei, thank Kami you're here. Asuma-sensei is hurt, can you help him?"

Giving an eye-smile, Kakashi replied,

"I'm sure Sakura can be of some help with that. Why don't we go inside to see him, hmm?"

At the mention of Sakura, Ino finally noticed the students that trailed behind the legendary jounin. She cast a disbelieving glance at Sakura, completely doubting her usefulness in the situation, and then turned an adoring smile on Sasuke. Sakura's buried fan-girl reared its head and she growled at Ino to back off. Before the girls could start going at it, Naruto cut in between them, successfully distracting them from their petty arguments and reminding them of the seriousness of the situation. Sasuke didn't bother with them and simple followed the male members of his team into the house. With a shake of his head, Shikamaru followed after the two girls who had scrambled to follow Sasuke inside.

* * *

The members of Team 7 entered a guest room, after greeting Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, to find Chouji keeping watch over his sensei. Asuma's labored breathing was the only sound in the room, and even from the door, Kakashi could make out the bandages and dried blood on his torso. Motioning for Sakura to attend to his downed comrade, he stepped inside the room.

Sakura nervously stepped forward and initiated the **Shousen no Jutsu** (Mystical Palm Technique) and began to assess Asuma's condition. The gathered members of Team 10 felt rising hope as they watched Sakura work on their sensei. Their hopes were somewhat dashed though when Sakura ended the jutsu and spoke, with an embarrassed blush on her face,

"I'm sorry sensei, there's not much that I know how to do yet. I was able to diagnose him to find that he had damaged ribs and has lost some blood. I was also able to heal some of the internal damage, but I can't do anything for his fever."

Kakashi nodded to show her that it was fine, and that any little thing helps. Before Ino could let her anxiety get the best of her and cause her to deride Sakura, Naruto stepped past them, the green glow of the **Shousen no Jutsu** illuminating Asuma's pale features. He placed his right hand on his chest and the left on his forehead. In a clinical tone, Naruto began to list the damages,

"He has three cracked ribs and two broken ones. He has lost a lot of blood and has internal bruising on some of his major organs. The major external injury is the cut running down his chest, and he has a high fever."

Before the stunned and disbelieving gaze of the gathered ninjas, Asuma's breathing became less labored and some of his color returned to his face. They watched in amazement as the visible bruises seemed to age from angry purple to the yellow of almost mended skin. Even the massive cut running along his torso was healed somewhat. With a final surge of green chakra, Naruto moved back as Asuma took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

The members of Team 10 forgot their surprise in favor of crowding around their sensei, expressing their relief at his return to consciousness. Naruto calmly ignored Kakashi's probing gaze and Sasuke and Sakura's stunned and annoyed looks, all in favor of watching the reunion of Team 10. Asuma finally turned his eyes to the amused gaze of his fellow jounin, and spoke in a slightly questioning tone – knowing that Kakashi wasn't all that capable with medical jutsu,

"Ah, so they sent you huh? Thanks for patching me up."

Kakashi lazily motioned towards Naruto, causing Asuma's eyes to widen in surprise, before he gave the blue eyed ninja a look of gratitude. Naruto merely inclined his head in acceptance of his thanks. He then said,

"I'll leave you guys to it and go and check up on the clones I left to watch the house."

Before Shikamaru could fully berate himself for getting distracted from his watch, Naruto glided out of the room, and not too long after, they heard the sound of the front door closing.

Giving Kakashi a look, expressing that he wanted to talk to him about whatever that was later, Asuma turned back to reassuring his students.

* * *

Later in the evening, after Kakashi and Asuma had talked in more detail about the mission and their respective students, the eight Shinobis sat around the dining table, along with Tazuna and Tsunami. An initially empty seat was left beside Tsunami for her son, Inari.

During the meal, Inari kept scowling at the ninja seated around the table, slowly causing Sakura and Sasuke to become uncomfortable – having not had to put up with his behavior before. He seemed to find fault especially with Naruto, who throughout the meal had blatantly ignored him, not even giving any response to his dark glowers. After dinner, Naruto thanked Tsunami for the meal and promptly left the house, after mentioning that he would take the first watch.

Asuma wanted to protest, thinking that Naruto had already done enough for the day, but he relented when Kakashi pointed out that the kid had more stamina than any two of the ninjas present, _combined_.

* * *

Naruto had been sitting on the roof for thirty minutes before he heard the sound of someone climbing up to his spot – attempting to do so without being noticed. With no prior warning to indicate that he was aware of the person's presence, he spoke softly,

"Is there something you needed, Sasuke?"

Startled at being detected, Sasuke's brows furrowed before he decided to continue with the reason he had followed his teammate. Clenching his fists and speaking in a forceful and demanding tone, Sasuke replied,

"I want to know where you learnt the things that you know. "

Taking Naruto's silence as confusion, he elaborated,

"A few years ago you were just a dead last wannabe ninja who was never going to amount to anything. Then you vanish for three months, only to return like this. I want to know how."

Without turning his head, Naruto spoke into the air,

"And you Sakura? Do you also want to know the answers to these questions?"

Sasuke twitched, and then internally berated himself for letting his need for answers distract him from his surroundings. Sakura scrambled fully onto the roof and spoke up with a huff,

"Yes I do. Where did you learn the medical jutsu you used? How did you learn to use a sword like you did? Also, how come you can do all those things like…like…tree walking and even seal less, silent ninjutsu?"

Sasuke's annoyance at Sakura's intrusion was forgotten as she pointed out other pertinent issues. Together, the both of them turned demanding gazes on their final teammate. Naruto's shoulders tensed, causing the other two to lean forward – thinking that they were getting to him. They flinched back in surprise the next moment as Naruto threw back his head and let loose belly aching laughter.

Sasuke and Sakura were too annoyed at being laughed at to appreciate how pleasantly smooth and deep Naruto's laugh was. After he had gotten over his amusement, Naruto stood and turned to face his teammates, fully aware that Asuma, Kakashi, and the genin of Team 10 were listening in to their conversation. His face was devoid from any of his previous amusement, and with a serious tone that cut deeply into his demanding comrades, he said,

"Get over yourselves. You seem to be suffering under the absurd belief that I owe you any explanations. When I was the dead last wannabe ninja, did you not ridicule and deride me? Now that I am skilled and capable you believe yourself privy to my secrets? Ridiculous! We are teammates, and inherent in that description is the understanding that during missions I watch your back and expect you to watch mine. However, nowhere in that definition is the understanding that you have any right to know anything personal about me. We are teammates, but you spent years showing me that we are not friends."

Over the course of his speech, Sakura had been growing more shamefaced, while Sasuke had grown tenser and tenser. Neither of them had anything to say to the stark truth that Naruto had just hurled into their faces, and so they turned to leave. Concealed in the shadows, Asuma and Kakashi shared grim looks, while in the house, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino shared confused glances.

* * *

The next morning, Tsunami's cry of surprise had most of the present ninja hurry downstairs to find out what was wrong. They stopped at the entrance to the dining room when they noticed the breakfast spread that was laid out on the table. While it was true that most of it was made of fish, it still smelled and looked appetizing. Tsunami's surprised look revealed that she was not the one responsible for the wonderful meal. Naruto appearing from the kitchen, carrying what looked like tea, answered the question of who prepared the meal.

Tsunami turned to him to protest, but he interrupted her with a shake of his head and an eye-smile. Smiling fondly at the kind young man, she sat in the seat he pulled out for her. The others got over their surprise and took their seats at the table. Chouji was the first to try some of the food. The others watched as his eyes widened in obvious surprise, before he began to pile on more food – which was the signal for everyone else to tuck in.

Naruto graciously accepted the complements that came from their hosts and the members of Team 10. He also mentioned to Tsunami that the rest of the fish he caught was placed in the freezer. Thanking him again for his help, she began to clear away the dishes, turning down the kids' offers to help her.

Kakashi gathered the six young ninjas around him and began to explain the situation in wave and how they would go about completing their mission,

"I discussed with Asuma, and we came to the conclusion that the hunter ninja who interrupted your encounter with Zabuza is an accomplice of his. Taking into consideration the damage Asuma was able to inflict on him, I give him four more days before he is recovered enough to launch another attack. So, here is what we'll do: Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru will guard Tazuna today, while Sakura will stick with Tsunami during the day. Sasuke and Naruto, I want you two to gather more information about the situation in wave. We will meet again after dinner to share our findings, any questions?"

Seeing that none of them had any questions, he motioned them to move out. The students of Team 10 followed Tazuna to the bridge, while Sakura left to join Tsunami in the kitchen. Sasuke threw a glance at Naruto, then left to complete his mission. Naruto stood up to leave as well, but he was stopped by Kakashi's voice,

"Naruto…"

Naruto glanced at him at that pause. Sighing, he turned fully to face his teacher and said,

"Kakashi-sensei, if this is about what happened yesterday night, don't worry. No matter what my feelings about them are, they are still my teammates…I will not become worse than trash."

Taken aback at Naruto's statement, Kakashi smiled with pride at his student and simply nodded. As Naruto prepared to leap into the trees surrounding the house, his acute hearing picked up Asuma's words,

"He's a good kid Kakashi."

"Yes he is."

And then in a tone filled with amusement, Asuma inquired,

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto didn't bother with trying to muffle his laughter at Kakashi's drawled reply,

"Hmm? You say something Asuma?"

* * *

Sasuke gazed intently at the rowdy men who had just left the bar. He had identified them as possible employees of Gatou and had been tailing them for the past few hours as they moved from bar to bar, occasionally stopping to harass a passing villager. He hoped that they would finally be returning to whatever stronghold Gatou had set up. He stalked them stealthily as they moved towards a huge building, from which he could hear the sounds numerous men talking. He jumped to a tree closer to the building and looked into one of the higher windows there. He spied a gathering of about sixty men – bandits, judging by their weapons and dressing. He looked around, casting out his senses as well, but he couldn't detect any Shinobis among them. Taking another moment to memorize all that he could about the gathered army, he left to return to Tazuna's house for dinner.

As he was jumping to another rooftop on the way, he noticed a flicker of gold in the corner of his vision. Stopping on the next rooftop, he turned to see that it was his teammate's gold hair that drew his attention. Looking closer, he noticed that Naruto was surrounded by a group of kids, ranging from about four to ten years old. He seemed to be _playing with them_. Bewildered, he took some time to confirm that his initial suspicion was indeed correct. Now he was incredulous, assuming that his teammate had _wasted_ time with the children instead of completing his mission. He turned back to look at the scene, only to lock gazes with the searing blue eyes of his fellow team member. He was startled for an instant, before he scowled and turned away. Still he noticed how the kids were obviously reluctant to let Naruto leave, before he created a clone to the amazement of the children. Leaving the clone to stay with the kids, Naruto jumped to the building Sasuke was on, and with a glance at him, took off towards Tazuna's house.

* * *

Tsunami had used the fish Naruto caught, as well as the few things she was able to buy from some merchants, to prepare the evening meal. During the meal, she and Tazuna spoke about their day, making sure to express gratitude towards the ninjas that were protecting them. Ino and Sakura then began to talk to Tsunami about girl stuff, while Tazuna engaged Asuma in a discussion.

During the course of the meal, Naruto had been aware of Inari's steadily worsening mood. So when the little boy slapped his hand on the table, Naruto was not among those who flinched at the sudden noise.

"Why do you bother? What makes you think that you can stand up to Gatou? What's the point in trying when you're all going to die anyway? "

Inari ran his gaze along those seated at the table, pleased to notice that he had grabbed their attention, until he noticed the repeated sound of chopsticks clinking against ceramic. Turning to Naruto, who was still eating, he snarled out,

"And you…you piss me off the most! Didn't you hear what I just said? You're all going to die, so why do you bother trying? There are no such things as heroes, so just give up before you die!"

Silence reigned in the room until Naruto finished his meal. Murmuring his thanks to Tsunami, he turned his gaze on Inari. After giving him a thoughtful look, he said,

"You must really hate your grandfather…and your mother too."

Visibly taken aback at that statement, Inari gained a look of confusion on his face, but before he could respond, Naruto continued,

"You say that we are all going to die and so we shouldn't bother trying. Yet, we are assigned to protect your family – your grandfather and your lovely mother. That means that, by your argument, we should stop protecting them and let Gatou do what he wants with them. Therefore, you must hate them."

Inari's mouth opened and closed at Naruto's words, unable to think of anything to say, while the others watched on. Standing up, Naruto began to clear away his used plates, and while doing so, he continued to speak,

"You say that heroes do not exist. I say otherwise, but you are entitled to your opinions. I will say this though: All it takes for a hero to be made is for someone to standup when others would sit down. It's for one person to raise their head when others would keep their heads down. It's for someone to speak out when others would remain silent. It's for someone to say enough, when others would just roll over and take it. At the end of the day, evil can only exist when good people do nothing. "

On that final note, Naruto left to place his dishes in the sink, leaving the room in silence with Inari slumped and considering the words Naruto just spoke.

* * *

The eight ninjas from Konoha were gathered around the table in the dining room, all leaning over a map of Wave village, as they each gave their assessments of the situation. The students of Team 10 reported that nothing was amiss during the time they spent with Tazuna at the bridge, except for some of the man's workers deciding to quit out of fear of Gatou. Sakura spoke about the poor living conditions she witnessed when she followed Tsunami.

When it got to Sasuke's turn, he leaned forward and reported about the men he tailed, while marking out their location on the map. He mentioned what he noticed about the state of their weapons and any signs of sword training. He made sure to detail their numbers and anything else he might have heard them talk about. When he was done, he threw a slightly condescending smirk at Naruto, assuming that his teammate had wasted the entire day playing with the children and as such, had nothing to report.

Naruto began to speak in an even tone, all the while placing markers on the map to denote the locations of the places he was speaking about,

"Gatou has a total of 250 mercenaries in his employ. Most of them spend a majority of their time in these three bars, located here, here, and here. He has four buildings set up for their housing at these locations. There are four lead bandits, each in charge of sixty men, who seem to have had some samurai training. These four bandits also have reasonably good equipment – armor and swords. The bandits patrol the village from time to time, usually harassing the villagers. As for Gatou himself, he is located in the huge building at the center of that little island. He always has six bandits with him, and from what I saw, those six are the best trained of all the bandits he has. I was also able to locate the hideout of Momochi Zabuza and his ninja accomplice, called Haku."

As Naruto had begun speaking, eyebrows had been steadily rising at the detailed and comprehensive report. Sasuke, in particular, was completely flummoxed at how much Naruto had been able to learn during the course of the day. However, when Naruto mentioned the missing Nin, eyes widened all around. He continued before anyone could interrupt him,

"I was able to spy on them enough to know that this Haku has some knowledge of healing herbs and as such, Zabuza should be ready to attack in two days at the earliest…tomorrow, if he pushes himself. One final thing, I also learned some information that suggests that Gatou plans to gate crash the confrontation between us and pick off the survivor."

Done, Naruto leaned back and gave the others time to digest his long report. Being a prodigy, Kakashi was the first to process all the information and reach the proper conclusion,

"Gatou never planned to pay Zabuza in the end. Also, after the fight, the survivor might be tired enough to get taken out by such a large force of bandits."

He then cast a serious gaze at the genin gathered around him before meeting Asuma's eyes. Reading the reluctant acceptance in them, he continued,

"Seeing as how Asuma is not yet healed enough for a confrontation so soon, I will be facing Zabuza alone. This means it will fall to all of you to handle the accomplice as well as the mercenaries who might come after."

The grim reality of the situation fully dawned on the gathered genin, and most of them found it hard to fathom. The genin of Team 7, having already had their first kills, were not as nervous as the others though. Nodding once he saw that they understood the situation, he dismissed them from the meeting, telling them to get as much rest as they could since they would all be following Tazuna to the bridge the next day. He turned back to Asuma to finish planning for the impending confrontation.

* * *

During breakfast the next day, everyone was on edge. Sensing the tension in the air, the civilians were quiet all throughout the meal. None of them commented when Kakashi casually suggested that Tsunami and Inari should probably stay in all day with Asuma. After the meal, the genins of Team 7 and Team 10 followed Kakashi out, leaving Asuma to guard Tsunami and Inari.

Kakashi instructed the genin of Team 10 to follow Tazuna towards the bridge, while Kakashi would lead his team through the trees, attempting to maintain the element of surprise. When they arrived at the bridge, they all noticed the heavy mist that hung in the air, obscuring everything. Having already gotten Asuma's account on Zabuza's modus operandi, Kakashi knew that today was the awaited confrontation day. He was pleased to notice that Shikamaru had correctly interpreted the situation, and that he had gotten the attention of his teammates.

When they got closer to the bridge, they were all able to see the unconscious and, in some cases, dead bodies of most of the bridge workers. With a cry of horror, Tazuna rushed towards the nearest person, asking what had happened. With his last breath, the worker replied,

"A…ugh…A demon"

A malicious chuckle cut through the heavy fog, instantly putting the gathered ninja on edge. The silhouette of two people, one tall man and a shorter person, became visible in the mist. Slowly emerging from the dense fog, Zabuza was revealed, with a relatively short masked effeminate ninja beside him. Giving off another hair raising chuckle, he inquired,

"What's this, baby genin without their mother hen of a jounin sensei? Well, this should be over quickly then."

In a blur, he was standing next to Chouji, his massive zanbatou already on a course to cleave the genin in twain. The sound of metal hitting metal cut through the air as a silver haired figure was suddenly there, blocking the fatal attack. Zabuza's eyes widened in shock, before he choked on his breath, as a blade erupted from his chest. Barely managing to turn his head around, his eyes landed on a mop of golden hair.

Even with his sword pierced through the Demon of the Mist's chest, Naruto's eyes were focused elsewhere. The impaled figure standing near him suddenly turned into water, as the clone was dispelled by the fatal hit.

The sound of slow, mocking applause came from somewhere else, as another Zabuza stepped into view, his eyes locked on the genin that had taken out his clone.

By this time, the other genin were only just catching up with Naruto's actions. The members of Team 10 were extremely shocked at the speed and proficiency their peer displayed. However, Zabuza's voice pulled them out of their contemplation,

"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. I'm looking forward to this fight. Haku, take care of the blond haired one."

In a flash, Kakashi engaged Zabuza, taking their fight away from the rest. Haku stepped forward to fight Naruto, but he was interrupted by Sasuke.

"I'll be your opponent."

And before any of the others could respond to that change, he dashed forward to clash with Haku.

Naruto merely turned to the rest and told them to get into formation around Tazuna. He turned back to face the mist, keeping an eye on the respective fights going on at that time.

* * *

Kakashi used the kunai in his right to deflect the swing of the zanbatou, and then he followed up with a blurring jab towards Zabuza's torso with his left. The kunai held in his hand plunged into his opponent's chest, but he never faltered as he ducked in time to avoid a beheading strike from behind. Placing his hand on the floor, he sprung back with a full kick, which was only just blocked by Zabuza's quick reflexes. He still got pushed back though, allowing the two ninja to pause for a moment. Finally deciding to stop feeling each other out, the two blurred towards each other, significantly faster than before.

* * *

Sasuke used the pause between their exchanges to take another measure of his opponent. He wasn't too certain if it was a boy or girl he was fighting, but it didn't matter. His opponent was fast, maybe even faster than him, although his hits were stronger. They had been going at it for a few minutes and neither was gaining the upper hand. He focused on his opponent – Haku – in time to hear a voice,

"Please surrender. I do not wish to harm you."

Scoffing at that statement, Sasuke dashed back in with a round house kick aimed at Haku's head. Having learnt by now, Haku elected to dodge instead of block. Leaning back out of the way, he returned with a series of lightning fast jabs which Sasuke only just managed to block. Suddenly pulling a senbon out of the air, Haku lurched forward to disable Sasuke, only to have a kunai interrupt the path of his needle. Knowing that he stood no chance of overpowering the other ninja, Haku finally decided to use jutsu. Speaking to Sasuke, he said,

"You should have given up when you had the chance; now, you have already lost."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he noticed his opponent weaving one handle seals. Suddenly Haku stomped his foot and said, **Hyoton: Sensatsu Suishou **(Ice Release: Death by a Thousand Flying Water Needles). His gaze was drawn downwards as he noticed the movement of the puddle of water next to them. Suddenly, the water sprang up into the air and froze into lethal ice needles before his disbelieving eyes. Knowing what would come next, Sasuke's eyes frantically searched for an escape route. Wanting to smack himself for being dumb, he channeled chakra to his legs and blurred out of the way in time to escape being made into a pincushion.

Haku glanced left and right, looking for his elusive prey, before a shadow had him looking up, only to receive a powerful kick to the face. Sasuke smirked as he watched Haku painfully get back to his feet. His smirk left his face at Haku's next words,

"I did not want to go this far, but for Zabuza-sama I will kill my heart, and kill you."

**Hyoton: Makyou Hyoushou** (Ice Release: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)

Sasuke watched with rising trepidation as a dome, made up of numerous ice mirrors, rose up around him. Haku stepped into the mirror nearest to him, and suddenly, his image appeared in every single mirror. Every single one of the images held up a couple of senbon and took aim. Suddenly the air was filled with flashing needles and before Sasuke knew what had happened, he found himself stabbed in numerous places – needles sticking out everywhere. His eyes widened as his body lurched forward in shocked pain. Haku brought up another hand with senbon while Sasuke was pulling out whatever senbon he could get to. He vanished from the mirrors, blitzing through the air at insane speeds, leaving Sasuke with many more senbon sticking out of his body. Against his will, a scream of intense pain was wrenched from his throat as he fell to his knees; his body incapable of putting up with the strain.

* * *

Kakashi whipped around at the pained sound coming from where the genin were. Before he could go and check up on them, Zabuza was suddenly in his face, swinging at him. Having already revealed his sharingan eye, he was able to dodge the swipes and retaliate when he saw an opening. The figure in front of him turned to water at his fatal strike, causing him to whirl in surprise, searching for his foe. A quicksilver flash of intuition had him speeding towards Tazuna, arriving just in time to get the old man out of the way of Zabuza's strike. His maneuver was not without cost however, and he gained a long gash along his chest for his troubles. Not even flinching at the pain, he lashed out with a powerful kick which connected and propelled Zabuza away from the genin. Pausing in his dash to re-engage the nukenin, he locked gazes with Naruto and after a moment, he nodded at his student.

Naruto threw a glance at the four genin behind him as his sensei dashed off once more. He spoke up in his usual calm and unbothered tone,

"Stay and keep an eye on the old man. Sakura, prepare to give aid to Sasuke; I'll be returning with him shortly."

He then turned back to the mist, and vanished without a trace.

* * *

Haku prepared to throw a final barrage of senbon at his opponent. They had been at it for minutes now, and Sasuke had noticed that over time, he eyes were getting more attuned to Haku's dazzling speeds. Finally noticing that he could almost follow his enemy's movements, he realized that he must have awakened his bloodline limit – The Sharingan. A quick glance into one of the mirrors revealed that his deductions were spot on. It was pointless however as, after attempting to use a Grand Fireball to melt a mirror, and failing, he was too low on chakra to do anything with his Sharingan except watch his death approach. He looked on as Haku prepared what would be the last of the senbon barrages. Knowing that he couldn't do anything to prevent it, he waited to die.

As Haku vanished from his mirror, zipping across the air at tremendous speeds, uncountable senbon cut through the air – all aimed at vital spots on Sasuke's body.

They never hit.

There was suddenly a blur of red, silver and gold continually surrounding Sasuke, followed by a sound like tinkling bells as every single senbon was deflected by a metal blade moving so fast that there was practically a circle of unyielding metal around him. Both Sasuke and Haku gaped in disbelieving shock as Naruto slowed down from his high speed movement around Sasuke, having just knocked all the airborne senbon out of the air with his ninjato.

Sasuke was in a state of shock. His Sharingan had been active when his teammate came to his aid, and still, all he was able to perceive was an indistinguishable blur. _Impossible_, his mind shouted, _no can one can be that fast_.

Haku shook off his shock and observed the newcomer. Before he could say anything to him, Naruto spoke,

"I heard you when you said that you wanted to avoid the bloodshed. So, I will give _you_ the chance to surrender now, before I am forced to take you down."

Looking at the new arrival, Haku was filled with the certainty that he was no match for the blond haired ninja before him. Brushing off whatever reservations he had, he prepared to pepper the two ninjas with more senbon.

Seeing Haku preparing his assault, Naruto sighed out sadly. Before Haku could begin to move, Naruto spun and faced the exact mirror which contained the real body of Haku. Haku's eyes had not finished widening in surprise before Naruto intoned, **Raiton: Gian** (Lightning Release: False Darkness).

A bright white spear of crackling lighting flashed out of Naruto's mouth, covering the distance to the ice mirror in an instant. Haku was unable to dodge it in time and so braced himself for impact as the spear reached the mirror, not expecting what happened next.

The spear of lightning tore through the mirror like Haku's senbons cut through the air moments before, causing Haku to let loose a gasp of pain as the bolt propelled him away, shocking him terribly.

Sasuke's wide eyes travelled from the newly made hole in the dome, to his teammate. He suddenly felt a powerful surge of glee as he realized that he had had his Sharingan trained on Naruto when his teammate was performing the technique. His feeling of triumph was ruthlessly squashed in the next instant when he remembered that his teammate never used hand seals. The gleam of amusement in Naruto's blue eyes told Sasuke that he knew what he was thinking. Gritting his teeth, he turned away from his teammate in annoyance, only to be startled as he felt a hand on his shoulder, before the world blurred around him. He noticed that he was suddenly standing a few yards away from the other genin, just in time for his legs to finally fail him. Sakura and Ino caught him before he fell and began to fuss over his injuries, while arguing with each other on who should get to treat him.

Seeing that they had everything in hand, Naruto turned to return to the lying figure of Haku. Approaching the slightly smoking body on the bridge, Naruto noticed that Haku was lying face down. As soon as he was a few steps away, Haku's body shifted, thrusting a senbon towards his eye. A few scant inches from impact, Naruto _moved_.

Haku's thrust pierced through the head of the afterimage left behind by Naruto, even as his body was already curling from the impact of the elbow planted in his gut. He was suspended in that position for the length of a breath, before momentum kicked in and he was propelled viciously further into the mist.

Walking forward, Naruto sensed that Gatou had finally arrived. Deciding to wrap things up, he clapped his hands then threw them forward, while intoning, **Fuuton: Reppuushou** (Wind Release: Gale Palm). A surge of chakra laced wind tore through the mist, easily dispelling it and revealing the entirety of the bridge for all to see.

Zabuza was standing on the bridge, bleeding from various wounds on his body, and his eyes widened as soon as he noticed the defeated body of his accomplice lying close to him. Kakashi was perched on top of one of the high rise beams directly above Zabuza, also with injuries of his own. Both their heads whipped to Naruto as he continued to walk forward. Casually raising an arm, Naruto pointed to the other end of the bridge. Slowly, they both turned to see Gatou standing at the head of a huge bandit army. By this time, Haku had painstakingly gotten to his feet and limped to Zabuza's side. Zabuza's quick mind correctly deduced the reason for Gatou's presence. Gritting his teeth, he spat out,

"Gatou, just what in the hell do you think you are doing?"

Giving an oily smile to his employee, Gatou responded,

"Why, taking out an insurance policy of course. Missing-Nin are quite expensive my friend, I'm sure you understand."

Realizing that neither he nor Haku was in a good enough shape to take on all the bandits without risk, he turned to Kakashi.

"It seems like our business here is done Hatake."

Giving a nod to him, Kakashi jumped down to his blond haired student's position, sparing a moment to glance at the other genin gathered around Tazuna; reassuring himself that they were fine. He turned back to face the situation at hand, cursing himself for getting carried away and using up as much energy as he had. He snapped out of his internal musings as he noticed Naruto stepping forward towards Zabuza and the fake Hunter Nin.

Zabuza and Haku tensed slightly as Naruto approached them. They didn't drop their guards even as he stepped past them, closer to Gatou and the bandits. Turning his suddenly frigid gaze on the people in front of him, he spoke in a tone that effortlessly cut through the air, causing shivers of discomfort due to how lethal he sounded,

"Just to be able to say I tried, I will give each of you the chance to leave here unharmed, as long as you never disturb this village again."

Even Zabuza and Haku gaped at the genin for a moment, before the raucous laughter of the bandits drew their attention again. Naruto simply took another step forward, and partially slid his sword out of its sheathe; preparing to draw it. Snorting at the child in front of him, the lead bandit stepped forward and shouted out,

"Come on boys, let's kill these pieces of trash and the old man. Then we can have our way with the rest of the villagers."

The resulting roar of approval from the other bandits was so loud, it almost shook the bridge, also masking the sound of Naruto's blade returning to its sheathe. The other genin paled slightly at the prospect of having to kill the bandits before them. The sound from the bandits was abruptly cut off as the air stilled and a crackling sound cut through the air.

Everyone focused on Naruto to find his right arm held above his head, with his hand curled as though he were holding a javelin. In the cusp of his hand, yellow lightning crackled merrily away.

With a steadily increasing hum in the air, Naruto's emotionless voice cut through the air like a herald for Death, **Raiton: Rairyuu no Houtengeki** (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd).

A glowing yellow halberd of supercharged death flashed into existence in Naruto's curled hand, which he then promptly threw forward. The attack sped through the air, reaching the front line of the gathered bandits before anyone could react. By that time, the bladed part of the halberd had widened to equal the width of the bridge, ensuring that it got everyone in its path. It sliced through the bandit horde, flash frying internal organs, evaporating the blood in their veins, and destroying their brains.

Moments before it got to Gatou, who had long since retreated to the back of the group, it abruptly narrowed to the width of a man's torso. It pierced through Gatou's chest and carried the screaming man out over the water, where it promptly detonated.

Once the resulting lightshow ended, only the ash drifting down to the sea was left as proof that Gatou ever existed.

Naruto turned around to find Zabuza and Haku gaping at him with widened eyes. Looking past them, he met the proud eye of his teacher, and then the shocked and slightly frightened faces of his fellow genin.

As he was walking back to the others on the bridge, a clone of his landed beside him, threw him a scroll, and then dispelled itself in a brief flash of lightning. He ignored the curious gazes of his teammates and turned to face Zabuza and Haku who tensed under his cool gaze. He unrolled the scroll partway and swiped his finger along it. With a small puff of smoke, a bag was suddenly in his hand. He tossed it at Zabuza, who reflexively caught it. Looking inside, his eyes widened again as he noticed the large amount of money in it. Casting a questioning gaze at Naruto, he received a simple nod in response. Surprising Kakashi and the others watching them, he inclined his head towards Naruto, then turned with Haku and vanished from sight.

Naruto returned to Kakashi's side in time to catch him as his chakra exhaustion finally caught up to him. He noticed that his sensei couldn't even summon up the energy to cover his transplanted eye, so he did it for him – to the visible relief of his teacher. Together, they made their way back to the rest of their team and the old man.

* * *

**AN**: Finally. I've been waiting to reach the chunin exams and really get started on the main parts of the story. Thank you for putting up with these relatively droll parts of the story so far. Hopefully, we can kick it into high gear with the next one.

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	10. Little words of love

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN:** So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.**

* * *

The eight ninjas of Konoha leapt from branch to branch, steadily making their way towards Konohagakure no Sato. They had been tree hopping for hours and had about thirty minutes until they reached the village gates. Over the course of the journey, the genin of Teams 7 and 10 had been casting befuddled glances at Naruto – some more subtle than others. True to form however, Naruto simply ignored said looks; he had no intention of putting up with the fuss of sating anyone's curiosity…_after all this was meant to be a vacation reality and furthermore, it was none of their business._

Ino had been confused ever since she witnessed the happenings on the bridge. She kept asking herself when Naruto…_Naruto..._had gotten so strong. Sure, she remembered how Naruto completely blew past the academy graduating exams, but he hadn't been on the level he was at now. She had to confess that she was amazed at how he effortlessly performed sealless high-ranked jutsu, as well as his skill in taijutsu and kenjutsu. After getting back from the bridge, Ino had cornered Sakura to find out all that she could about this new Naruto, and she was terribly disappointed. Still, for a consummate gossip like her, the lack of information was telling in and of itself. Also, having a parent who was so highly placed in the intelligence division granted her more insight into the ways of the Shinobi._ It was the ones you knew nothing about that killed you the fastest._ Quickly following on the heels of that morbid thought was a recollection of how Naruto had taken care of Gatou and his thugs. Ino had to fight off a shiver at the gruesome memory of smoking and charred corpses. However, ever the busybody, she was determined to know all there was to know about her fellow blond haired ninja.

Shikamaru's keen mind had been turning over the puzzle that Uzumaki Naruto presented. He recalled an orange-wearing attention-seeking goof ball that had possessed the most deplorable ninja skills. That person had disappeared for three months – _two of which had been spent in the hospital, if the rumors were to be believed_, only to return fundamentally different. Being one of the most perceptive people in his generation, Shikamaru had noticed on that first day of the new academic year that it wasn't only Naruto's sense of fashion that had undergone a change. His thoughts had been confirmed when he had seen the way Naruto reacted to the taunts thrown his way. He will be the first to admit that once Naruto began to skip classes, he had written off the changes as only superficial. That was until the graduation exams when Naruto basically made a fool out of everyone – shattering all their preconceived notions with indifferent impunity. Now three months later, he shows up again, wielding Lightning jutsu with thoughtless ease and wiping out bandit armies like dust from his lapels. However he remembered what Naruto had said to his teammates on the roof of Tazuna's house, and as such, decided not to bother asking him directly. Though it was troublesome, Uzumaki Naruto intrigued him.

Chouji was not oblivious to how surprising Naruto was. Before the blue eyed ninja had changed so much, he would occasionally share a meal with him. After his absence of three months however, Chouji rarely ever saw him around. Still, it somewhat surprised him that a genin who graduated with him could be so far above him in skill. Nonetheless, he wasn't too bothered about it and as such, he saw no need to stick his nose into his comrade's business.

Asuma glanced at Kakashi's blond haired genin. He had spoken to Kakashi about him after Naruto had healed his injuries. He didn't really know what to think; he hadn't had many interactions with the kid before, so he didn't know how much he had changed. Still, he was grateful to Naruto for healing him, and even though his jounin level skills were suspicious, he would give the kid – who his dad was so obviously fond of – the benefit of the doubt.

Sakura had been silent for most of the return trip; she didn't know what to think. The mission in the Land of Waves had shown her how far behind she was in comparison to her teammates. Sasuke was the Rookie of the Year and an obvious prodigy. He had always been better than her, and now that he had unlocked his Sharingan, that gap could only possibly widen further. Then there was Naruto. What else was there to say on that matter? Comparing Naruto to herself was like putting Kakashi next to an academy student. Even she had to accept that Naruto was simply too powerful. And now that she thought about it, she asked herself just how he got that strong. From what she remembered, Naruto had been geared to graduate at the bottom of the class. Then out of nowhere, he blew past everyone during the graduation exams, evenSasuke. _And just where did he learn medical jutsu from_? Sakura had chosen to study medical jutsu, in the hope that it would become her thing on Team 7, thereby showing how useful she could be to Sasuke. Now, Naruto comes along and shows her up as though she was never any competition. She cast one last annoyed look at Naruto and vowed to find out how Naruto had improved so rapidly.

Sasuke had been fuming ever since the group had departed for Konoha. He had passed out after _Naruto rescued_ him from the deadly Ice user. He had gotten the story of what happened from Shikamaru – Ino and Sakura had been too busy crowding him and being annoying as always. When he learned that Naruto had defeated an opponent that he could not, and then gone on to wipeout so many bandits with one strike, he couldn't believe it. For the first time since the academy graduation, he realized that he had been playing catch up for so long and was still far behind. No matter how much he had tried, he had never been able to discover Naruto's secrets. He had even tried tailing him a few weeks after their team was formed. He had followed Naruto into a building where he had lost him. Before he could backtrack, he had been swamped by women – _prostitutes_ – who told him that a blond haired gentleman had paid them handsomely to _entertain_ him. It was then that he realized that Naruto had been aware of his efforts to tail him and had thus led him to a brothel. He had been abruptly yanked out his musings when he felt a hand _cup him there_. He had promptly fled the building with a tomato red face, with the amused – _mocking_ – laughter of the women on his heels. He had been unable to meet Naruto's eyes for days after that incident. Still, he comforted himself with the knowledge that he had finally unlocked his bloodline limit. Even though he would probably be unable to copy any of his teammate's jutsu, he would still be able to use the other abilities of the sharingan against him – like its genjutsu and prediction abilities. With his annoyance replaced by eager anticipation, he turned his thoughts away from his teammate.

Kakashi was lost in thought; a ninja of his caliber did not need his full attention to seamlessly travel on the Shinobi highway. After Naruto had taken out Gatou and his thugs, Kakashi had been too out of it to realize that a genin should never have been able to command such powerful jutsu effortlessly. The events on the bridge were like the straw that broke the camel's back; all the little discrepancies that he had initially brushed aside came back to him, and they would not be dismissed so easily. Being one of the few people who cared enough to know about Naruto's life, he was aware that it was very unlikely that one of the ninja in village was responsible for Naruto's phenomenal skill. That knowledge made him all the more wary of his blond haired student's rapid improvement. With one more discrete glance at Naruto, Kakashi vowed to bring his concerns to the Sandaime.

* * *

The members of Teams 7 and 10 made their way towards the red Hokage Tower. As they walked along the road, the two jounin noticed the fleeting looks that a few of the villagers threw at the blond haired Shinobi. They simply put the issue out of their minds, partially correct in their assumption that it was due to Naruto's Jinchuuriki status.

Before the Eternal Sage had taken the place of Uzumaki Naruto, the interactions between the blue eyed child and the villagers usually involved most of the villagers blatantly ignoring him. Only a handful of them ever went out of their way to actually verbally abuse him. None of them dared lay a hand on him after the Sandaime had made a public example of a drunk who tried to kill him when he was four years old. Being the rambunctious child that he was, Naruto often struck out at his more verbal detractors via his pranks. So, like a feedback loop, his actions worsened the behaviors of the villagers, who in turn escalated the retribution Naruto sought to dish out, until it got to the point where most merchants in Konoha refused to provide service to him. The truth of the matter though was that the more verbal villagers were at their cores, bullies. They derived malicious vindication from seeing Naruto's wide smile become more forced, and his shoulders hunch over more, under their hateful words. The silent observers also felt a sense of guilty of accomplishment when they saw the effect their indifference had on the boy.

That all changed after the arrival of the current Naruto. It had taken only one week for almost all the villagers to learn that Naruto would no longer take anything dished at him. In fact, he seemed to simply not care; almost as if the world he lived in did not contain any of them. When the more vocal villagers taunted him, he never reacted…_he never even raised his head from his book_. Now getting a taste of their own medicine, the taunting calls slowly began to dwindle and eventually, stopped all together under the unyielding indifference of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. With Naruto no longer caring about the existence of any of the people who attempted to make his life miserable, the more malicious of them began to get frustrated; it was no fun if he didn't feel their displeasure. Then when the first storekeeper tried to triple the prices of his goods, Naruto merely cast him a dismissive glance and left without buying anything. At first they had felt that they could still get to him by their actions, until they witnessed him buy so many goods from the monthly traveling merchants that said merchants probably gained a month's profit in one day. Any attempts at bad mouthing the boy to the traveling merchants only caused them to be labeled malicious gossips that would do anything to stifle the competition. Their consternation only increased when Naruto began to give the traders quality animal skin and plants which they knew could only have come from the Forest of Death. With the double blow of losing the patronage of such a relatively rich customer and a source of high quality raw materials, the merchants slowly stopped treating him like they used. Of course, Naruto never actually went back to buying from them, even when he knew that he would not be overcharged. As months went by, and as the villagers saw him less and less, he slowly passed beneath their notice; the facemask aided his attempts to fade to the background. Most of them had even forgotten what he looked like. At the end of the day, he could walk freely in broad daylight without having to put up with glares and cold shoulders – only a few people noticed him in particular, and they never did anything.

* * *

The eight ninja stood before the Hokage as each of the two jounin gave their respective reports on their missions, with Kakashi including reports on his team's initial escort mission to the Land of Fire's capital.

Sarutobi had to stop himself from reacting when Asuma mentioned that he allowed his fresh out of school kunoichi convince him to continue with the mission after getting its full measure. He would have to give Asuma an official reprimand, Hokage's son or not. His eyebrows rose minutely when his son reported about Naruto's use of **Iryou Jutsu** (Medical Jutsu). Then he nearly choked on his pipe when he heard about the happenings on the bridge. After the two jounin were done, he dismissed all the six genin, noting with interest how Naruto vanished with a muted flash of lightning.

When the genin had all left his office, he turned to Asuma and sighing, said,

"That was a bad call Asuma. I have no choice but to give you an official reprimand, marked in your records."

Asuma nodded, accepting that he had indeed messed up. As he turned to leave at the Hokage's dismissal, he was suddenly reminded of an encounter he had had with Naruto in Wave. He had been surprised at the time because he knew from Kakashi that Naruto rarely, if ever, started out conversations.

Tazuna had just returned from the events on the bridge to find that Gatou had sent some thugs to capture his family as insurance. Asuma had intervened, after Inari had stood up to the thugs. He had been watching the tearful reunion of Tazuna and his family when Naruto had spoken in a soft and musing tone only he could hear,

"Makes you wonder doesn't it?"

Surprised, he had turned a questioning gaze on the mysterious genin. Seeing his confusion, Naruto had turned a knowing look on him that pinned him in place,

"Makes you wonder about the importance of family and loved ones; how no matter the differences between them, family is still family."

Now in front of his father, who he hadn't spoken to for a long time, he considered what Naruto had said. Hiruzen looked at Asuma in confusion when he noticed him pause in his exit. His eyes widened in surprise when he heard what Asuma said on his way out,

"See you at dinner…father."

A glowing smile spread across his face as he watched Asuma – _his son_ – leave the room. He wondered what had happened to change his son's mind, and out of nowhere, an image of a blond haired child flashed in his mind. Getting a hold of himself, he turned his attention to the remaining jounin in the room,

"So Kakashi, tell me, what are your concerns about Naruto?"

Kakashi put his novel away, causing some measure of concern in the Sandaime. He began to detail the various discrepancies he had noticed so far: The jounin level speed, the mastery of kenjutsu, the chakra control needed to use medical jutsu as well as seallessly command powerful bolts of lightning, the superior senses. He also pointed out that all this strength had to have been gained in two years at most, all without anyone ever noticing. _It wasn't possible_.

After Kakashi finished, Sarutobi leaned back with a furrow on his brows and exhaled a stream of smoke. He was sad to say that he agreed with Kakashi about the issue with Naruto. However, he was reluctant to force the truth out of the boy. Because he knew that the seal on Naruto would allow no interference from the Kyuubi, he was not too worried about that. Nonetheless, the fact that in two years, and with no teacher, Naruto had gained the skills needed to place him on par with jounin level ninja was a thing of concern. The only reason that he didn't drag the child forward to demand answers from him was the memory of Naruto's body slumped over a blade he had thrust through his own heart. Looking at Kakashi, Sarutobi knew that they were thinking the same thing. Letting loose a world weary sigh, he made his decision,

"I understand what you're saying Kakashi, but you and I know why it is unadvisable to pressure him into giving us answers. However, I assume you are going to nominate your students for the chunin exams. Watch him and if he does anything that endangers either himself or the village, let me know."

Giving a resigned nod, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves. The Hokage gave another tired sigh, and then leaned forward to resume his paperwork.

* * *

The three genin of Team 7 entered the exam room to see a huge gathering of genin from other villages. Naruto smoothly sidestepped the blonde missile careening towards him, and then turned to watch calmly as Sasuke was smothered by Yamanaka Ino. He didn't react when Shikamaru spoke up from behind him,

"You guys too huh? Troublesome."

Whatever response that statement might have garnered was cut off by the loud and boisterous voice of Inuzuka Kiba,

"Woohoo! You guys are here too! This is going to be so awesome!"

The nine genin of the most recent graduating class began to intermingle amongst themselves, until they were interrupted by another new comer. The silver haired genin spoke in a chiding tone,

"You really should not be so noisy. There, take a look behind you."

The genin turned and most of them blanched when they noticed the murderous looks being thrown their way by the rest of the room's occupants. Yakushi Kabuto noted, with interest, that neither Uzumaki Naruto nor Uchiha Sasuke seemed to be bothered by the killing intent. Making a note of his observation, he continued,

"Since I'm a fellow Konoha genin who has taken these exams before, I'll help you out free of charge."

Then, with a flourish, he produced a deck of cards. Before any of the genin before him could wonder at the purpose for the cards, he explained,

"These are info cards which I created using my experience with the exams. They have on them, information about all the villages participating in these exams, as well as, information on the individual genin themselves. So, who do you want to know about?"

Sasuke noticeable perked up at that. His mind flashed back to the interactions he had had with two other genin, and so he stepped forward to request,

"Tell me about Rock Lee, Sabaku no Gaara…and Uzumaki Naruto."

Ignoring the confusion of his fellow genin at him requesting information about his own teammate, he focused on Kabuto. Kabuto suppressed any amusement he might have felt at hearing Sasuke ask about the enigmatic Kyuubi Jinchuuriki; he had heard talk among the jounin of the boy's actions on a C-rank turned A-rank mission to the Land of Waves. Refocusing on the genin before him, he spoke up as his hands deftly fetched cards from his deck,

"It becomes far easier when you already know their names. Okay, first up is Rock Lee – nonexistent skills in ninjutsu and genjutsu, but superb in taijutsu. He has been on two B-ranked missions, 23 C-ranked missions, and numerous D-ranked missions. Next is Sabaku no Gaara. He has been on 10 C-ranked missions, 8 B-ranked missions, and has never once been injured on any of them. Finally, we have…"

The surrounding genin blinked in surprise at the pause, until they noticed Kabuto shuffling through his deck with furrowed eyebrows. A look of confusion crossed his face when he realized that he couldn't find the third card. As one, the gathered genin swung their gazes to Naruto, only to find his head buried in his book as usual. Huffing out exasperated breaths, they turned back to Kabuto, who had continued to tell them about those attending the exams. If they had looked closer, they would have found a ninja info card acting as a bookmark in Naruto's book.

* * *

Team 7 stood in front of their assigned gate, waiting for the signal to commence the second part of the Chunin Selection Exams. Sakura shuffled nervously in place, while Sasuke's clenched fists were the only indicators of his trepidation. Naruto, however, was deep in thought.

He had made a promise to himself, to ensure that the name, Uzumaki Naruto, would be known throughout the Elemental Nations – it was the least he could do for the young boy whose life he now lived. After he met Gaara a few days before the chunin exams began, he had come to realize that this Gaara was a little more far gone than he was used to. He hadn't yet decided if he was going to try to redeem the red haired Shinobi, but one thing he knew was that Gaara was the only genin capable of giving him the kind of fight that would place his name among the up and coming legends of his generation. However, things were not so simple because, as his senses had indicated, Orochimaru was present, and that generally meant that there would be an invasion. So, the next few days were going to be important to him, if he intended to do as he had promised himself.

When Orochimaru ambushes his team, in order to test the strength of his intended vessel, Naruto plans to fight him. The purpose was to get Orochimaru to take an interest in him. From what he knew of the Snake Sannin from lives past, he was at heart a scientist and was always interested in intriguing individuals. The trick was to rouse his interest enough that he would want to see what Naruto was capable of; want it enough to delay the invasion until he watched Naruto go up against either Gaara or Sasuke in the finals. However, he wanted to avoid taking it too far and causing Orochimaru to consider him a threat to be eliminated. It was unfortunate, but Naruto would probably allow Orochimaru mark Sasuke with his Cursed Seal of Heaven.

He put such thoughts from his mind once he heard the sound signifying the start of the second round of the Chunin Selection Exams. Like a shot, all the teams were off.

Team 7 blurred through the trees, with Sasuke taking point. None of the other two noticed Naruto making clones, which promptly took off to hunt down other teams and capture whatever scrolls that they could. Sasuke had immediately assumed leadership of the team, casting a challenging look at Naruto who merely eye-smiled in return. They kept on traveling through the day, since Sasuke was determined to cover as much ground as possible on the first day, before they went about trying to obtain the needed Heaven Scroll. They didn't encounter any opposition during the day, and chose to camp out in a cave Naruto had found.

After a meal of ration bars, the three genin set out the next day. Naruto's sharp senses picked up on Orochimaru's presence suddenly appearing in the vicinity. So, he wasn't fazed when a gust of chakra reinforced wind slammed into him, propelling him far away from his team. He easily controlled his fall and smoothly landed on the side of a tree. Without faltering for even an instant, he was already in motion, jumping away from the tree he was on just as a 20 foot snake crashed through the place he had been standing. To kill time, he elected to play a game of cat and mouse with the snake, though he was sure the snake wrongly assumed just who the mouse was.

* * *

Sasuke stood panting across from the slightly scuffed figure of the grass kunoichi. He had thrown everything he had at her, and still she calmly stood there, smiling sinisterly at him. Forcefully calming his uneven breathing, he prepared his last gambit. Hurtling forward at speeds above what most genin could achieve, he threw a series of fast paced punches and kicks at the Kusa-nin. His sharingan was able to follow the retaliatory punch launched at his face, but his body was too slow to do anything about it. The punch thundered into his face, launching him away from his opponent. Not even hesitating, he hurled ten shuriken simultaneously along circuitous paths. With the same smirk on her face, the kunoichi smoothly evaded them, only moving as much as needed to have the projectiles just brush by. Her eyes widened however, when she noticed the ninja wire attached to the shuriken, only in time for her to be bound to the tree behind her. Not wasting his chance, Sasuke clenched the end of the wires in his mouth and snarled out, **Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu **(Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)**.**

A huge roaring torrent of flames surged down the ninja wire and met at the kunoichi's location in an explosion of heat, light, and sound. Sasuke let loose a breath of relief when he heard the kunoichi's screams. However, his relief fled him when he noticed that what he thought were screams of pain, were actually screams of exultation. He stumbled back in shock and fear as the Kusa-nin emerged from the flames, slowly peeling of the charred skin of her face to reveal a pale smirking visage beneath it. _He_ spoke up in a tone that felt like snakes crawling under skin,

"Kukuku Sasuke-kun, you truly are a delight. Such promise you have, yes, you truly are that man's brother."

Orochimaru's sickening grin widened further when he noticed the flinch Sasuke released at the mention of Itachi. He made his decision. Quickly weaving through hand seals, his neck elongated grotesquely, launching his head towards the petrified genin. His jaws extended beyond human norm and his fangs lengthened in preparation.

Sasuke let loose a scream of intense pain as Orochimaru clamped down, imparting his Cursed Seal of Heaven on the boy.

Orochimaru was in the process of retracting his head, when his eyes widened and he abruptly wove his body to side. He avoided the spear of lightning by a hair's breadth. He quickly focused his serpentine gaze on the new arrival and smiled in glee as he noticed the blond haired child coolly gazing back at him. His senses noticed two clones of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki arriving and leaving with his two teammates, but he ignored them, having already accomplished his goal. Turning back to the blond, he prepared to speak, but was interrupted,

"Orochimaru the Snake Charmer, what brings you to this part of the woods?"

Now amused, Orochimaru responded,

"Oh? You know of me, little genin? I'm surprised; I would have thought that my…actions…would have kept the Academy from teaching about me. After all, Konoha has a habit of trying to bury unpleasant truths."

Naruto merely gave an eye-smile in response, and said,

"Nah, the huge snake was kind of a dead giveaway. Might I inquire as to what you just did to my teammate?"

"Hmm…since you asked so nicely, I think I could answer that. I gave him a taste of what power could be his if he came to join me. I have seen his soul, little genin, and I know that he will seek me out for more power eventually."

Watching to see what Naruto would do in response to his explanation, Orochimaru noticed his subtle shift in stance and prepared himself to test the genin before him. With a flash, they were off

* * *

The three clones finally landed beside a huge hollowed out trunk. The lead clone turned to Sakura as the clone carrying her placed her on her feet.

"Make camp here and tend to Sasuke. Two of us will leave to aid the original while the last one will setup some perimeter traps. We don't have a lot of equipment, so don't rely too much on the traps."

Without giving her a moment to respond, the lead clone was off, followed by one of the other two.

* * *

Naruto's fists were a blur as he attacked the Snake Sannin, moving at speeds that put Sasuke to shame – a fact which Orochimaru noted with interest. The Hebi-Sannin's fluid taijutsu style allowed him to move in odd ways to avoid all the attacks headed his way. He was obviously not going all out on the genin, but still, he was impressed that Naruto was keeping up with the pace so far. Deciding to kick it up a notch, he began to counterattack. Amazingly, Naruto was able to avoid four out of every five attacks launched his way, even managing to hit Orochimaru a few times.

Naruto suddenly jumped away from Orochimaru and with no warning before hand, he spat out in Orochimaru's direction, **Raiton: Gian** (Lightning Release: False Darkness). Orochimaru's eyes widened as the genin seallessly launched a B-ranked jutsu at full power. Deciding to play along, he formed a single hand seal and said, **Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku** (Wind Release: Balls of Wind), and spat out five balls of tightly compressed cutting winds at the airborne genin. The lightning spear was destroyed by one of the balls of wind, reducing their number to four. While still airborne, Naruto rejoined, **Raiton: Rairyuudan **(Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Bullet). A huge crackling blue dragon made of lightning ploughed through the balls of wind and then exploded when it impacted the place Orochimaru had been standing in.

Naruto landed on the side of tree and promptly ducked as roundhouse kick tore through the air above his head. He returned with a rising elbow which just grazed the tip of Orochimaru's nose as he leaned back to avoid the blow. Still leaning back, Orochimaru's leg came up to impact heavily into Naruto's stomach, causing Orochimaru to let out a hiss of pain as the lightning clone was dispelled in a release of lightning. A sword erupted from his chest as he stood back upright. However, Naruto never stopped moving as he spun and cut through the air behind him, forcing Orochimaru to pull back.

Smirking at the increasingly fascinating genin, Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and reached in to pull out the famed Kusanagi. Turning back to the genin, he said,

"Kukuku, you surprise me Naruto-kun. However, as I'm sure you know, this is the Kusanagi; there is no material it cannot cut."

In response to that, Naruto simply channeled chakra into his ninjato, causing previously invisible seals to light up. With a low hum, his blade began to vibrate at insane speeds, increasing its cutting power a hundred fold. Then lightning crackled down the length of the blade, further increasing its lethality. Smile widening at the display, Orochimaru lunged forward and began a lethal dance of steel with the blond haired genin.

Naruto fought with all the skill that his level seven custom limiter seal would allow. He skillfully traded blows with the fellow master swordsman, just managing to turn aside attacks that would have fatally poisoned anyone else. They continued like that for a few more minutes until Naruto suddenly switched things up again by intoning, **Raiton: Kangekiha **(Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration). The surge of lightning travelled down his blade and into the Kusanagi, forcing Orochimaru to disengage or risk further electrocution. Naruto had begun breathing a little heavier from the effort of battling such a high level opponent while being restricted as he was. The little cuts he had sustained from the famed Grass Cutter sealed with a hiss as his accelerated healing factor kicked.

Orochimaru's attention was drawn to Naruto as he watched his injuries heal before his eyes. Then Orochimaru almost sighed as he realized that he had gotten sidetracked and spent too much time with the blond haired ninja; he would have to bring things to a close. He tossed his sword through the air and blurred through hand seals before slamming his hands on the floor. Naruto allowed his eyes to widen as he felt Orochimaru's chakra spike to high levels as he said, **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**.

* * *

The Anbu and Hokage perked up when they sensed a huge spike of chakra from the forest of death. Stepping up to his window, Sarutobi turned his gaze in the direction of the chakra eruption in time to see a huge plume of smoke clear to reveal what his sharp eyes saw to be a huge snake. He was already zipping towards the disturbance before the Anbu around him could make sense of what they were seeing. _Orochimaru_, he thought to himself, _what is it that you are searching for here?_

* * *

Knowing that his former sensei and Konoha Anbu would have felt the chakra spike, he commanded the snake to make quick work of the genin. The huge summon lunged for the tree that Naruto stood on. It crashed through the tree, narrowly missing its intended target, and turned to find its elusive prey. A shadow had both it and Orochimaru looking upwards to see the temporarily airborne form of Naruto finish weaving through a few hand seals. Then locking gazes with the widening eyes of the Snake Sannin, Naruto roared out, **Raiton: Rairyuu no Houkou **(Lightning Release: Roar of the Lightning Dragon).

A huge torrent of crackling yellow lightning exploded out of Naruto's mouth.

The approaching Konoha Ninja arrived in time to watch the world disappear in a roaring flash of golden light and booming thunder.

When the light had cleared from their eyes, and the ringing from their ears, they discovered that everything that had been below Naruto in about a fifteen foot radius was destroyed – including the huge summons creature.

The surrounding Anbu shook off their shock and turned to the Hokage for guidance. Shaking his head, he indicated that they should spread out and search for the traitor Sannin. He cast a contemplative look at Naruto, turned to observe the damage caused by his one attack, and then turned to join his men in his search. Naruto sensed the departure of the ninja, and sighed to himself. Although he had succeeded in his objective concerning Orochimaru, he knew that the Sandaime would soon be demanding answers from him. _Well_, he thought as he began tracking down his teammates,_ it's not like I haven't dealt with stuff like that before_.

* * *

Naruto had made a slight detour to receive the scrolls that the clones he had sent out had obtained. All in all, he had three Heaven Scrolls and two Earth scrolls. He was steadily making his way back to his teammates, moving leisurely since he was in no hurry. He was also taking the time to let his currently limited reserve regenerate. His fight with Orochimaru had taken a lot out of him because he had refused to release even one level of his limiter seal. He was currently at half the strength of level seven. He slowed down his approach and concealed his presence from all those in the clearing ahead of him, even from the Hyuuga hidden in a tree on the other side. It was the work of a moment for him to understand what he was seeing; Orochimaru must have sent the sound Nins to test Sasuke's Cursed Seal. Sasuke was still out of it however, and so Sakura had taken a beating, as had Rock Lee who had tried to aid her. He was about to intervene when he felt Sasuke's chakra warp and begin to rise steadily.

The gathered genin – members of Team 10, Rock Lee, Sakura, and the Sound Nin – turned their attention to the source of steadily rising foul chakra, to find Sasuke standing with odd markings spreading across his skin.

Sasuke smiled in deranged pleasure as felt the wonderful power coursing through his body; he felt invincible as he was. _With this power, I can definitely surpass that blond haired nuisance and be closer to killing Him._ His gaze cut to one of the Sound Nins present, and suddenly, he vanished.

Kin Tsuchi let loose a cry of pain as Sasuke's rising foot smashed into the underside of her jaw. Before she completely left the ground, he pivoted and delivered a powerful round house kick to her airborne body, propelling her forcefully into a tree. The surrounding genin winced when they heard the distinct sound of bones breaking on impact.

With a snarl of rage on his face, Zaku flung his hands towards Sasuke and screamed out, **Zankyokukuuha **(Extreme Decapitating Air Waves). A huge gust of deadly cutting air exploded out of his palms, leaving him panting from the chakra usage. The wave of air tore across the clearing, bearing down on the still stationary Uchiha Sasuke. With a grin of triumph, Zaku watched as the waves crashed on the position of the black haired genin, totally obliterating everything in its path.

Before any of the present people could react, Zaku was suddenly on his knees, with his hands held behind him in the unyielding grip of the bloodthirsty avenger. Sasuke was too far gone to even bother with talking and so pressed his right foot against Zaku's back, and with a deranged grin on his face, he heaved his hands backwards and disarmed the sound genin…_literally_.

The surrounding people blanched as a ripping sound echoed throughout the clearing, followed by the tortured screams of Zaku. A few of them almost threw up at Sasuke's extreme actions, finally recognizing that something was terribly wrong with him.

Dosu stumbled back in terror as Sasuke's insane gaze focused on him. Hoping to save himself, he stuttered out,

"Please…please take our scroll and let me leave with my teammates. I'm sorry for attacking you…I swear I'll never –"

Dosu flinched in fear as Sasuke vanished from his position. He, along with everyone watching, believed that Sasuke was about to tear him apart as well.

It was, therefore, with understandable surprise that the genin present noticed Sasuke halt halfway towards Dosu – held in place by the hand resting against his chest. They quickly made out the owner of the hand to be the last member of Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto. The members of Team 10 relaxed in relief, an action that did not go unnoticed by the other genin. Wondering why Team 10 would feel relieved at the presence of the newcomer, they focused on the happenings in the center of the clearing. Naruto's customary calm tone was then heard through the air,

"I do believe that you have made whatever point you intended quite clear, and now, we are simply wasting time. He has surrendered his scroll, let us take it and complete this stage of the exams."

All was still as Sasuke stood there considering his teammate's words. Naruto read his eyes however, and knew what was going to happen next.

Sasuke's right hand came up in a fist, on a course to bury itself in Naruto's masked face.

It never got there.

With a slight hum of electrical energy as the only prior warning, the hand placed against Sasuke's chest erupted with lightning, locking Sasuke's muscles in place and delivering massive shock to his system. Three seconds later, it was over, and Sasuke slumped forward in unconsciousness. Naruto caught him and lifted him onto his shoulder, noting that the Cursed Seal was retracting.

Before the stunned eyes of the genin, he turned to the unconscious form of Sakura, and with no prior warning, a clone materialized next to her and scooped her up as well. Suddenly, they were all gone from the clearing, leaving the results of Sasuke's rampage behind them. The Konoha genin turned to look at Dosu, only to notice that he had taken the chance to flee with his injured teammates.

* * *

Naruto stood with the other exam participants as the Hokage's speech wound to a close. He noticed Gaara's bloodthirsty gaze focused on him, but he did not react to it…_ not yet_. After Hayate ended his own speech, and Kabuto withdrew himself, the matches began. His attention wandered as Sasuke defeated Akado Yoroi, and Shino proved too much of a match for an armless Zaku. He then watched as Kankuro killed his opponent, Tsurugu Misumi. He focused on the fight between Sakura and Ino, wanting to see if Sakura's improvements would do her any good. He was disappointed to note that the match ended with a double knockout. It was as he thought; at the time of graduation, Ino had been better in the ninja arts than Sakura. Sakura only became Top Kunoichi because of her book scores. So, when Sakura improved herself, she only attained a level at par with her love rival, who was from a predominant ninja family herself.

The next match was between Temari and Kiba. It was violently short after Temari, _and practically everyone else,_ noticed Kiba ogling her. As Kiba launched into a **Gatsuuga** (Dual Piercing Fang), Temari charged her battle fan with a wind jutsu, then swung it at an incoming Kiba. As soon as all his forward momentum had been neutralized by her fan, she released the jutsu point blank, viciously launching him into the wall while simultaneously cutting him up. It was over in seconds. With a smirk on her face as she turned to leave, Temari said to the barely conscious genin,

"Women hate a man who is too quick to finish."

And with the laughter of some of the surrounding ninjas in his ears, Kiba passed out.

Shikamaru faced off against the barely recovered Kin Tsuchi, where he outsmarted her and knocked her out.

Neji fought his cousin and ruthlessly took her apart, much to the anger of the spectating Konoha Nin.

Dosu defeated Chouji, channeling his frustration and anger at the Konoha Shinobi into his fight.

Then Gaara faced off against Rock Lee, providing the spectators with the best fight they had seen so far. Despite Rock Lee's trump card of opening five of the eight Celestial Gates, Gaara still triumphed, crushing Lee's arm and leg with his sand.

When it was his turn, Naruto casually meandered down the stairs for his battle with Tenten. The two contestants stood facing each other, even when the signal to begin was given. Tenten decided to start off with an observation,

"You know, our sensei told us not to underestimate you, but I just don't see it."

Merely raising an eyebrow at her, Naruto said nothing to that. With a huff at his silence, Tenten began to launch kunai and shuriken at him with deadly accuracy.

Still maintaining his unbothered look, Naruto began to weave through the hail of lethal projectiles.

Tenten was getting increasingly frustrated with her inability to hit the slippery genin and in a fit of pique, she ceased her barrage of weapons and jumped in the air. While airborne, she took out a sealing scroll and unrolled it, coiling it around her as she did. She then shouted out, **Ittou-Ryuu** (Rising Single Dragon).

A veritable rain of metal death was unsealed and hurled at the blond haired genin, moving at terrifying speeds. With merely a tilted head in consideration, Naruto _moved_. His hands blurred out to pluck the first two weapons closest to him – a tanto and a kunai, and then using them, he began to deflect everything headed at him. For the few seconds that the jutsu was active, the sound of metal on metal echoed through the room, causing the spectators to lean forward, hoping to glimpse what was happening to Naruto inside the cloud of dust he was in.

The jutsu finally ended and Tenten landed on the floor, breathing hard from the exertion. The cloud of dust cleared to reveal a sight that stunned her for a moment.

Naruto stood there, _not a single scratch on his body_, holding one of her tantos and a kunai. There was a perfect semi-circle of untouched ground behind him, where not a single weapon had landed.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Tenten initiated the second part of her jutsu. With a flex of her fingers, all the weapons on the floor were launched into the air, guided by the ninja wire she now held. A crackling sound drew her attention to Naruto, to see the kunai he had held in his hand hurtling through the air towards her. She twitched her fingers and one of her airborne weapons moved to intercept the airborne kunai, while the rest lunged for Naruto from above. When the interceptor weapon hit the kunai, most of her other weapons had already traveled past it, closer to Naruto. The sound of the metal hitting another metal was quickly followed by the sound of lightning discharging as the lightning chakra Naruto had booby trapped the kunai with exploded.

The lighting was drawn to all the metal around it and promptly surged down the ninja wire surrounding the kunai that had contained it, travelling back to the budding weapons mistress.

She only had time to widen her eyes before the lightning arrived at her hands.

After the seconds long lightshow ended, Tenten's lightly cooked standing body was revealed. With a sound like a sigh, she fell over backwards, unconscious. After a few moments of stunned silence, Hayate's voice rang out,

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha as he pondered what he should do during the one month break before the finals of the Chunin Exams. He turned to the side as the Anbu that had been trailing him finally decided to reveal himself.

Suppressing a twitch at being sensed by a genin, the Anbu spoke in a monotone,

"Uzumaki-san, Hokage-sama requests your presence."

After a nod, the Anbu vanished in a cloud of smoke. Naruto sighed and then prepared himself for the confrontation that was coming. He had already decided on how he was going to play it, and so, with no trace whatsoever, he disappeared from the streets of the village.

Naruto's steps didn't falter as he entered the Hokage's office, even as he noticed the added presences of his current one-eyed teacher and the Legendary Toad Sannin. He came to a stop at a respectable distance from the Hokage and said,

"You sent for me, Hokage-Jiji? "

Jiraiya's keen eyes observed the blond haired boy standing before his sensei. He noticed, with no small amount of incredulity, that the kid seemed completely at ease in the presence of three of Konoha's top ninja. From what his sensei had already told him about his godson, he knew that Naruto would probably be able to guess at his identity. Still, one would expect a genin to show some nerves when faced with three Konoha Legends, but the kid was rock steady. He quickly tuned into the conversation about to happen, determined to get the truth about the mysterious child.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I did. My ninja informed me that there was a missing Nin present during the second stage of the chunin exams. I want to know if you encountered him."

With a nod, Naruto said,

"Yes, it was Orochimaru of the Sannin."

Releasing a weary sigh, the Hokage said,

"And then what happened?"

"I arrived just as he was biting my teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. I launched an attack to distract him while three of my clones removed my teammates from immediate danger. I asked him what his purpose was and he told me that he wanted to give Sasuke a taste of power; he was confident that Sasuke would seek him out for more. After fighting with me for some minutes, he then left. "

The old man was quiet for a moment, just looking at Naruto with an unreadable look in his eyes. He then asked,

"How?"

Seeing Naruto's look of confusion, he elaborated, with his voice steadily rising as his frustration got the better of him,

"How does a genin fight with a ninja like Orochimaru and come out relatively unharmed? How does a genin seallessly produce an unseen jutsu that wipes out countless enemy bandits? How does an academy student go from being the bottom of his class to breaking all previously held records in the graduating exam in just under two years? And how does a child improve so much without anyone teaching him or noticing?"

Naruto's face was blank and unreadable as he gazed back at the Sandaime. He noticed that all three ninja were entirely focused on him. Then Jiraiya decided to add his own input, giving Naruto the opening he needed to pull off his deception,

"Look kid, it's not that we're not glad that you improved. The issue is that no matter how you look at it, such strength is suspicious. Why don't you just tell us who it was that taught you and we can get this thing settled once and for all?"

Jiraiya had to fight back a flinch as Naruto's eyes lost their blank look and gained a look of barely restrained fury. When those raging blue eyes cut to him, he drew back slightly, suddenly feeling as though he were staring down a furious Yellow Flash himself. When Naruto's voice came out, they all heard the suppressed rage in his tone,

"You are twelve years too late to be asking anything of me, dear Godfather. "

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	11. Make this earth an eden

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN:So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.**

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.**

* * *

The hokage's office was silent. None of the three adults present knew how to react to Naruto's angry statement. Jiraiya, in particular, had paled and kept opening and closing his mouth, unsure of what to say.

Seeing that he had them off kilter, Naruto began to weave his magic. Slumping his shoulders and allowing defeat and melancholy to color his tone, Naruto spun his tale.

Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all focused on Naruto as he began to speak. Jiraiya was the only one of the three who wasn't stunned by the picture of defeat Naruto presented; having not known the boy as the other two had, he had nothing to compare with. Still, some part of him recognized that such an aura of defeat did not lend itself well to a child whose presence bore such a strong resemblance to that of his dead student. All other thoughts fled from his mind as Naruto began to speak; each question aimed at him slowly causing him to draw further into himself in shame. Naruto did not shout; his voice remained dull, lifeless, and just _disappointed_.

"You were supposed to take care of me. Where were you when the orphanage kicked me out, and I had to survive on the streets until Jiji found me? Where were you when none of the teachers would teach me anything, and I failed my tests because I couldn't even understand the questions being asked of me? Where were you when shopkeepers refused to sell me anything, forcing me to wear that orange monstrosity and live off ramen for years? Where were you when…when I found out just why it was that they called me 'demon brat'?"

At that last question, the gathered ninja paled in horror. Before any of them could interject, Naruto asked one last question, causing Sarutobi and Kakashi to close their eyes in remembered sorrow.

"Where were you…two years ago...when I tried to kill myself…when I died?"

Kakashi's lone eye was staring blankly into space, incapable of focusing on the here and now. True to his prediction at the time, the memories of Naruto's motionless body – _corpse_ – had not left him even now; the macabre scene had been forever branded in his memory by his spinning red and black eye. He had never known how badly Naruto was treated, but if he was honest with himself, he would recognize that he had never allowed himself to find out; it made it easier to pretend that his sensei's son was well taken care of if he didn't know for sure otherwise. Of course, he was aware that some of the villagers were more vocal in the dislike of Naruto, but he never imagined that they went so far as to deny him service in shops, or even sabotage his education. Now, after hearing just how much Naruto had had to endure with only the support of a handful of individuals, Kakashi morbidly wondered how the kid had lasted a full decade before taking a sword to himself. He quickly dismissed such thoughts; they brought to mind uncomfortable images of his own father's death.

This was one of the rare moments when Sarutobi truly felt his age. Standing before him was the product of one of his greatest mistakes – even worse than the debacle with his traitorous student. Internally, he cursed himself for ever allowing himself to bend to the whims of sentimental folly and announce the truth behind the events of the Kyuubi Attack. His misplaced belief in the nonexistent fortitude of the people of Konoha had caused Naruto to suffer as he should never have. To think that even a cheerful and optimistic child, like Naruto had been, could be driven to suicide at the _too_ young age of ten left him feeling weak and useless. This was not the Konoha that his teachers had dreamt up, and then given their lives to create. This was not the Will of Fire of that Namikaze Minato had sacrificed himself to preserve. It had become a pale shadow of its former self, and having listened to Naruto's summary of his life thus far, it was not a village he could take pride in anymore.

Jiraiya wavered between extreme murderous fury and paralyzing shame and horror. Twelve years ago, when he had learnt of the sacrifice his student had made, he knew he had a choice to make. At the time, he believed that choosing to protect Konoha from outside threats was the right choice…_evidently, he was wrong._ Standing there, looking at the kid he was supposed to have raised as a son in the absence of his student, he realized just how much he had failed. He could have easily dropped in occasionally, to make sure that Naruto was growing up properly, but he had managed to convince himself, time and time again, that the child was fine and did not need him. The child, slumped in defeat before him, indicated that he had made the wrong call; possibly an even worse failure than he had had with his traitorous teammate. And now, because he had chosen to leave – _run away_ – his godson had killed himself… Breaking out of his state of self-disgust, he quickly went over that thought. His godson had _killed himself_! How was he only finding out about it? Suddenly, he recalled one of the periodic reports from his sensei, mentioning that Naruto had been hospitalized for a few months. He nearly bit his tongue restraining himself from ripping into the Sandaime Hokage for not informing him of his godson's attempted suicide; it helped that he knew he was not blameless in the matter. Just as he thought that Naruto had shocked him enough, the kid continued, forcing Jiraiya into a near catatonic state,

With a reminiscent and musing tone, as though he were lost in pleasant memories of times past, Naruto continued,

"Dad was so pissed…you should have seen him; he looked like he could just flash around Konoha, killing everyone. And mom…Heh…she said she wanted to, quote, 'tear all those fuckers apart and bathe in their blood'."

Sarutobi, unable to believe just what Naruto was saying, just what he was implying, stuttered out,

"You…you met them...How?"

His question broke the other two men out of their funk, causing them to fully focus on Naruto. Neither the Sandaime nor Jiraiya even considered the full implications of Naruto knowing his parents' identities; they were too distracted by what Naruto had just revealed,

"Yes, I met them. Apparently, when dad crafted the seal, he included a failsafe; if it were ever the case that the seal was in danger of being completely unraveled, a portion of his chakra, which he included in the seal, would get to work mending it. "

The gathered ninja stood in awe of the sheer genius of the Yondaime Hokage. Naruto, meanwhile, stood and watched them fully digest all that he had unloaded on them. He knew that one of them was bound to notice, and point out, that although the information he had just shared was incredible, he still hadn't explicitly stated who had taught him. True to his prediction, the Sandaime leaned forward with furrowed brows and spoke in a hesitant sort of tone,

"While what you have shared with us leaves a lot of food for thought, Naruto-kun, I couldn't help but notice that it still does not fully tell us who your teacher was. I mean, I was there and from what I recall, you couldn't have been dead for more than a minute…two at the most."

Both Jiraiya and Kakashi snapped out of their states of shock, after hearing about Naruto meeting his dead parents, and quickly refocused on the present. They too were curious about whatever Naruto's response would be. With a put upon sigh, Naruto explained – _lied_,

"What dad had done was to basically seal Kage Bunshins of both himself and mom along with the Kyuubi. After meeting with them, and spending time together, the chakra eventually ran out, causing them to be _dispelled_. You all know that when a shadow clone is dispelled, the original gains the experience of the clone. In this case however, their original bodies were not present, and so, the returning chakra went to the nearest most viable host, their child. I am sure I don't need to tell you that children often inherit some chakra traits from their parents, and so, in the absence of mom and dad's bodies, I was the next best thing. Since I am not a perfect chakra copy of either of them, some of the memories were lost in translation, but what little I did get went a long way in helping acquire the strength I have today. It wasn't like with a normal Kage Bunshin, I only knew some of the skills in my mind; I had to teach my body and chakra to be able to use them."

The office was silent after his explanation. The three adult ninjas were trying to take in all that Naruto had said up until that point. It was almost unbelievable but all three of them were intimately familiar with the unparalleled genius of Namikaze Minato, and after seeing him summon the Death God to do his bidding, they wouldn't put Naruto's recounting as beyond him.

They all spent a few moments thinking about what they had just heard. Each of the three men, in their own way, had owed it to the Uzumaki-Namikaze family to take care of its only living member. Each of the three men, in their own way, had failed.

The Sandaime sighed out a stream of tobacco smoke. His eyes were sorrowful and his form was sagging with shame,

"Naruto my boy, I have failed you."

Jiraiya had to fight back a wince at the amount of feeling his sensei was able to pack into that one sentence. The knowledge that he too had failed his godson only made things that much worse.

Before the Sandaime could continue with his self-flagellation, Naruto let loose a sigh. As though he were letting out all his internal burdens, Naruto visibly straightened before them, gathering his composure. A few moments after, he looked his usual calm and unruffled self. He spoke up then,

"It's okay old man. It's in the past now; I'm hardly going to raise a fuss over something that you can't undo. It is enough for me to know that you care now, and that you always have."

The Hokage smiled in pride at just how much Naruto had grown. However, even as he slightly inclined his head in acceptance of Naruto's forgiveness, he made a personal vow to do right by the child from then on; ignorance would not be an excuse.

Jiraiya gazed thoughtfully at the young man his godson had become. He felt a momentary pang of loss at the fact that he had missed Naruto's growth. He quickly consoled himself with the knowledge that he now had the chance to make up for all the lost time,_ if Naruto would let him_.

Kakashi, while happy with the resolution of the situation, was also saddened by the fact that he would have to spend the coming month solely training Sasuke. Even the knowledge that Naruto would probably be taken care of by Jiraiya could not placate him. Now that he knew how terrible Naruto's life had been, he was all the more eager to spend time with him and be there for him more than he had before.

With the more difficult part of the conversation out of the way, the four ninjas were more comfortable with each other. The three adults began to talk with Naruto about his achievements; all the time being told embellished truths sandwiched between believable lies. Jiraiya brought the discussion to a close when he just about leered at Naruto,

"So kid, care to show me what you've got?"

* * *

Naruto stood next to Shikamaru, along with the rest of the participants who had made it to the finals. The entire stadium was packed with many people, both foreigners and locals, all hoping to be entertained by the up and coming new generation of Shinobi. The Daimyos of the various main countries were in attendance, along with their massive entourages; all of them hoping to be entertained by their respective vassals.

Gazing around, Naruto took note of the absences of both Sasuke and Dosu. He hoped things played out as they usually did, and Sasuke ended up late to his own match, his plans depended on it.

Up in the stands, most of the Konoha ninja were gathered close to each other, with the jounin sitting not too far from their genin students. Asuma turned to Kurenai and spoke,

"These matches promise to be special."

Being aware of the suspicion surrounding the Chunin exams and the threat of hostile action by Orochimaru of the Sannin, she couldn't help but agree with her comrade; unaware that she had totally misunderstood what Asuma had meant.

They both looked to their right as they sensed someone plop down in the seat beside them. The slightly psychotic grin tipped them off to the person's identity, long before they noticed her purple hair, or heard her shiver inducing voice,

"Ho...I hope that little redhead can spill that red stuff I love so much; I'm betting on him to make this _delicious_. Hmmm, but then again, that little blond gaki had some good moves as well. He's Kakashi's brat right?"

Asuma took a moment to ignore the statements preceding Anko's question, then he nodded his head. Absently wishing for one of his cigarettes to fortify him enough to handle the Snake Mistress of Konoha, he responded,

"Yeah. From what I've learned, he is not a genin to be taken lightly."

Most of the older Konoha ninja who heard Asuma were disbelievingly puzzled; _wasn't that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki? No way was he as skilled as they say._ Obviously, the happenings in Wave had not been spread around. Kurenai had heard from Asuma about the events on the bridge in the Land of Waves, yet she was skeptical about the reports of one genin's strength.

The gathered genin, seating not too far away from the jounin, had heard what they were talking about. Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, and Lee, all turned their gazes to Sakura, questions in their eyes; they hadn't heard about the Wave mission either. Ino, who had been present _and who never let an opportunity to gossip pass_, leaned forward and spoke in a tone bursting with eagerness to share,

"It's true though, you should have seen him that day on the bridge, he-"

Ino's voice was abruptly cut off by the proctor's voice originating from the center of the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Finals of this Chunin Selection Exam. We are about to begin with the first round of fights. Please sit back and enjoy the performance these young Shinobi will put up for you – and remember to cheer them on."

The proctor, Shiranui Genma, allowed a few moments for the crowd's cheers and roars of anticipation…_and slight bloodlust_…to settle down. When he was sure that they could hear him properly, he continued,

"The first match up is between Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto."

The gathered crowd roared in anticipation of the coming bloodshed, with the majority of the Konoha civilians visibly more in support of Neji than Naruto. That's not to say that there weren't a number of people cheering Naruto on. No, in fact, there was almost an equal number of people cheering for the blond jinchuuriki – most of them foreigners.

Most of the gathered Konoha ninja noticed this, and Asuma, who was sitting closest to one of said foreigners, turned to the man sitting close to the group. He noticed that the man's eight year old granddaughter was vibrating excitedly in her seat, constantly pointing at Naruto and saying things like,

"That's him daddy, that's the nice boy who saved us. He's so cool."

Asuma cleared his throat and raised his hand a little, garnering the old man's attention. Now that he was looking at him, he noticed that the old man was probably some official from one of the surrounding minor villages. With the gathered ninjas listening in, some more subtly than others, Asuma asked,

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice that you seem to know Naruto."

Asuma's words also caught the attention of some of the foreigners sitting around the person he was talking to. Noticing that their hero was being talked about, they noticeably tuned into the conversation as well. The old man gave a kindly smile to Asuma, while at the same time placing his hand on his granddaughter's head to keep her in place on her seat,

"Yes indeed, we had the great fortune of meeting him about a year ago. You see, we had just been sacked by bandits and they had kidnapped our women and children, including my little one here."

At that, the cute little girl gave a nod, acting all cute and solemn like.

"We are a simple farming village, without armed men to take care of such things. While we were debating on what to do, that young man arrived in our village, saying that he had tracked the bandits to our location, and offered to retrieve our kidnapped people. We were all skeptical at first, until my son, the leader of our village, recognized the young man from descriptions people from other villages had given. He was able to recover all our people, uninjured, as well as all that the bandits had stolen from us. He didn't even ask for anything in return."

The Konoha ninjas listening in were surprised at the old man's story; their surprise only increased when other foreigners sitting nearby nodded their heads, saying that Naruto had done the same for them. Putting together a timeline from what they were saying, the Shinobi realized that Naruto must have started such missions when he was in the last year of the academy. The Konoha civilians who were close enough to hear the old man's story were forced to reconsider all that they thought they knew about the jinchuuriki.

* * *

All attention focused on the arena when people noticed that the first match was about to begin; all other present participants having long cleared out from the field.

Genma stepped forward, and turning to each of the two combatants in turn, he asked,

"Ready?"

Getting a nod from each of them, he declared,

"Begin!"

The entire stadium fell silent, waiting to see who would fire the opening salvo.

Neji observed his blond haired opponent, his acute gaze easily noting that Naruto was completely relaxed with his stance full of openings. Choosing to interpret this as overconfidence, he spoke in a cold and disdainful tone,

"You should give up. Fate has decided that I will be the victor in this battle."

Naruto fixed him with a sharp look that was assessing, and then he sighed as though Neji had just been found wanting. Before anything else could be said, he formed a single handed ram seal and spoke calmly,

**Raiton: Zukokku **(**Lightning Release: Intelligent Hard work**)

A spark was created at the tip of his upright middle finger. The spark grew into a crackling ball of lightning about the size of a golf ball. Before the eyes of everyone watching, the ball of lightning fluidly shifted into the shape of a small bird, which then proceeded to start fluttering around Naruto's head.

After getting over his surprise at Naruto's actions, Neji scoffed,

"How disappointing, is that it?"

Neji had just barely finished speaking when the lightning bird dive-bombed him. Still unbothered by the obviously ineffective attack, he prepared a Jyuken strike to destroy the approaching bird.

A scant few feet away from him, the bird exploded.

In place of the small bird, a massive roaring torrent of supercharged lightning was suddenly bearing down on Neji.

Many in the crowd flinched back at the unexpected metamorphosis from harmless bird to lethal beam of crackling death.

Neji, without wasting time, immediately kicked it into high gear. With a cry that was just barely heard over the noise of Naruto's attack, he began to spin, **Hakkeshou Kaiten** (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation).

The massive wave of lightning slammed into Neji's revolving dome of chakra. A piercing sound, much like nails on a chalkboard, was heard as the two attacks ground against each other. The higher ranked ninja leaned forward as they noticed that Neji's dome was buckling under the onslaught.

Then, just as it seemed like Neji was about to be electrocuted, Naruto gestured and his attack abruptly ceased to exist.

As Neji spun to a stop, even he was confused at the abrupt end to the attack, especially when – _and he would never admit this_ – he was about to falter.

Naruto's even tone cut through the confused mutterings of the people in the stadium,

"You should not have done that."

Seeing that Neji did not understand what he was referring to, Naruto decided to explain,

"You should not have used that trump card. Now that you have shown me that move, you have allowed me to understand it. Now that I understand it, it has become useless against me."

For a few moments, the stadium was filled with confused muttering after Naruto's declaration, when a scoff chock full of disdain cut through the air. Neji did not even bother to speak, he _moved_.

In a blur so fast that the spectating genin could only just keep up, he bridged the distance between Naruto and himself. His right hand – _blazing blue with a primed Jyuken attack – _lashed out at Naruto, who shifted his head out of the way. Neji did not stumble when he missed; he fluidly shifted into another assault, his hands a blur as they struck out at the blue eyed masked genin.

Naruto kept up with his dodging, noticing that Neji was getting increasingly frustrated with his evasions; it was testament to the boy's genius that his attacks maintained their precision and fluidity even as he got more annoyed. Eventually, when Neji's attacks were moving at low jounin speeds, Naruto began to use his own hands.

Knowing that it would be only foolish to try to block a direct hit, he instead chose to hit Neji's wrists, forcing the incoming attacks to deviate from their targets and miss him completely. Even when Neji tried to trick him by pulling his blows, Naruto was not fazed, neither was he hit.

Naruto finally created an opening in the formidable genin's flurry of attacks by deflecting his two hands wide, allowing him an open shot to his torso.

He did not hesitate.

Neji let loose a grunt as Naruto's fist impacted with his chest, launching him feet away from his opponent. He was too stunned by the ridiculously powerful blow to regain his footing, and so, he crashed into the ground.

Naruto watched him calmly as he got to his feet while trying to hide his wince at the soreness in his body.

The spectators, scenting blood, leaned forward in heightened interest. The ninjas among them were intrigued by the crisp and fluid taijutsu exchange that the two genin had just shown. They were eager to see what more the new blood had to offer.

Tenten and Lee were both surprised at the way the match had been playing out so far. It was obvious to them that Naruto had been in control from the very beginning. It was a new experience for them to see Neji in the dust instead of his opponent.

Neji, finally recovered from his loss of breath, focused his gaze on his opponent, who was still calmly standing there, looking at him. He gritted his teeth because he believed that Naruto was looking down on him…_just like those main branch dogs did_. Quickly losing his cool, he snarled out,

"Do you think that because you managed to hit me, that you stand a chance at winning this fight? Don't be arrogant! You are no better than me…and besides, this match…is over."

Naruto watched on as Neji lowered his center of gravity, raising his hands to form a slope, pointing forward towards the ground. He didn't react when Neji spoke, already knowing what was about to happen,

**Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou** (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms).

Moving even faster than he had before, Neji was suddenly standing in front of Naruto, his hands a blur as he attacked.

**Hakke Ni Shou **(Eight Trigrams Two palms)

**Yon Shou **(Eight Trigrams Four palms)

**Hachi Shou** (Eight Trigrams Eight palms)

At this point, only the spectators above low jounin level could keep track of his blurring hands.

Yet, Naruto kept dodging, moving his body only enough to avoid getting hit by the skin of his teeth. All the while, his face was calm, while Neji's voice was getting more and more strained, revealing his mounting frustration.

Finally, he ended with **Rokujuuyon Shou** (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four palms).

The moment the last of his chakra dissipated into midair, Naruto struck.

Neji's head was abruptly forced backwards by Naruto's kick to his jaw. Just as his stunned body began to rise off the ground, Naruto bent his body forward, launching a double punch coated with yellow lightning, while intoning **Soukotsu **(Twin Bones).

For an instant, they were both frozen in that position, and all was silent.

_One heartbeat_

Blood flew from Neji's mouth and he felt his ribs buckle as they were put under stress…then he felt them fail as the force proved too much for them.

_Two heartbeats_

His internal organs were bruised and some blood vessels ruptured, causing internal bleeding.

_Three heartbeats_

The momentum of the impact finally fully translated into him and, with a sonic boom, he rocketed away from Naruto and slammed into the wall of the stadium, raising a cloud of dust. The sound of his body impacting with concrete was not loud enough to mask his scream of pain as the lightning behind the attack finally hit him.

After a few moments, the dust cleared away to reveal Neji's barely standing form. Blood dripped from his mouth and bruises were already beginning to show on the patches of skin visible through the tears in his outfit. He was panting, in obvious pain, and just barely able to keep himself from pitching forward onto his face.

Everyone watching took in the damage caused to Neji, many of them finding it hard to believe that it was wrought by just one attack.

Neji finally straightened, unable to hide his signs of pain, and began to limp back towards Naruto. He was about twenty feet away when he was stopped by Naruto's voice,

"At the start of this match, I told you not to use any trump cards…yet you didn't listen. Now I have understood your **Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou **(Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) attack, and thus, it too has become useless against me. You claimed that fate had declared you the victor of this match. Yet, this match is over, and you have lost."

Neji, and everyone else watching, followed Naruto's suddenly pointing finger and looked up.

There was a small blue crackling bird hovering in place.

Before anyone else could react to what was about to happen, Neji was already in motion, forcing his broken body to move as the bird dove towards him. The crowd did not jump this time, having expected the explosive change in the bird's form.

However, none of them was prepared for the fearsome lightning dragon that emerged from the explosion.

The elemental dragon roared towards Neji's revolving dome of chakra and, a scant few inches from impact, it _swerved_.

Some in the audience blinked in surprise, wondering at the sudden change in direction.

The blue-white dragon began to travel around the revolving dome in a circle, moving in the direction of its spin.

Despite the noise from the two attacks, Naruto's voice was heard all through the stadium as he began to speak,

"When you used your first trump card, you revealed to me one clear fact; you are obviously a novice at using that attack."

Eyes widened all around the stadium at that last statement. Hiashi, in particular, was surprised at the implications of Naruto's words.

_How did he know_, was the question running through his mind. What Naruto had just said was true. Even though Neji had managed to recreate a main branch technique without outside help, he still had not perfected it; it was, after all, a secret technique passed down in the main branch for a reason. He listened with increasing amazement as Naruto pointed out the weakness in Neji's technique, completely caught off guard by the genin's perceptiveness.

"When you initiate your revolution, you keep spinning at a constant speed."

As he spoke, the elemental dragon began to speed up, slowly increasing its speed until it was moving in perfect sync with the rotating chakra dome. Naruto continued,

"Simple physics says that if another object were able to match that rotational speed, a relatively easy feat since it is kept constant, then as far as that object is concerned, your chakra dome would be stationary. And as everyone knows, stationary external chakra is just colored air."

Before the disbelieving eyes of the spectators, the blurring dragon slowly began to merge into the dome of chakra, seamlessly slipping through it.

The entire stadium vanished under a flare of too bright light and roaring sound as the elemental dragon detonated. The booming sound of thunder faded in time for the people present to hear the tail end of Neji's screams of pain.

Once the spots had cleared from their eyes, they quickly refocused on the battlefield.

Across the stadium, jaws dropped in shock when their owners saw the huge crater that had been formed by Naruto's attack, with Neji's smoking and charred body lying in its middle, unconscious.

Into the silence, Genma's slightly amazed voice rang out,

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto"

The silence was abruptly shattered as the crowd surged to its feet, roaring in approval and excitement at such a fantastic match. Most of the Konoha civilians were stunned at the fact that the genius of such a prominent clan had lost to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The foreigners who had already had contact with Naruto were going wild, their cheers easily the loudest in the entire stadium.

Amongst the gathered genin, Tenten and Lee were both silent. They knew that Naruto was strong, but to see him handily defeat Neji was more than they had ever expected.

Kiba was gaping at the conclusion to the fight. He brain could not comprehend what his eyes were seeing. From what Hinata had told him, Neji was meant to be the strongest genin in their generation, and yet there he lay, defeated before the once dead last student of the academy.

Watching the match, Sakura couldn't even find it within herself to be surprised. She had long since come to accept the fact that next to her teammate, all other genin might as well be civilians for all the threat that they posed him. All attempts to learn Naruto's secrets had been calmly and ruthlessly shot down by him. Not even trying to charm – _seduce_ – them out of him had worked. Unlike before, where he used to fall all over himself trying to get her attention, now he just politely and firmly evaded her._  
_

The close sitting adult ninja finally collected themselves after seeing the ruthless deconstruction of the lauded Hyuuga genius. Anko let loose an amused whistle, and declared with a voice just slightly tinged with awe,

"The gaki didn't get hit…not even once."

Some of the ninja, who heard her, startled when they realized that she was indeed correct. Before they could react to that new revelation, Anko suddenly lunged to her feet, excitedly screaming out,

"I'm rich! Holy fucking shit I'm rich!"

Most of the surrounding ninja sulked as they were reminded of the fact that they had all bet on Neji to win. With a delighted cackle, she bounced to the bookies seated not too far away. The two – Izumo and Kotetsu – groaned as they were forced to fork over her winnings.

The grumbling of the losers and the maddened cheering of the winner were cut off by the sudden appearance of Naruto next to Anko's jumping figure. While the gathered ninja were aborting their movements of reaching for weapons, Naruto merely eye smiled at Anko and held out his hand. Seeing this, Anko pouted,

"Awww, come on little gaki, you can just let aunty Anko hold onto these for you."

With a huff of exasperated laughter, Naruto shook his head and motioned for her to hand over his share of the winnings. With an exaggerated sigh, Anko split the winnings in half and gave one half to Naruto. Seeing that her share was still a significant amount of money, she lost her exaggerated pout and smiled her usual hair raising grin and spoke,

"No matter, it's still a lot of dough. Good thing I agreed to your proposal little genin."

Naruto received his winnings, and with an incline of his head, he vanished to join the rest of the tournament participants.

Anko turned around to meet the questioning gazes of her comrades, and decided to offer some explanation,

"The gaki found me a few days ago, and asked me to place a bet on him using some of his own money, since participants are usually not allowed to bet on themselves. After seeing him perform during the preliminaries, I decided, why not, and added my own money to his. And now, I'm filthy rich…a life's supply of dango and sake here I come. "

She ended with another cackle, leaving her fellow ninja to digest that while she retook her seat.

Hyuuga Hiashi couldn't take his eyes off of the unconscious body of his nephew, even following him as he was taken away to be treated by the medics. He finally sighed and, with a glance at his youngest daughter beside him, he stood up, intending to finally correct some of Neji's misconceptions.

Naruto materialized next to Shikamaru on the balcony set aside for the exam participants. He paid no heed to the looks being thrown his way by some of the genin present, especially the murderous gaze of the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. He stood idly by Shino as Genma announced the next match up between Shikamaru and Temari.

Whereas the previous match had been a fast paced exchanged of furious taijutsu and powerful ninjutsu, this match was mainly waged on the mental front. Over the course of several hours, Shikamaru had managed to manoeuver Temari into a position where he was able to finally capture her using his shadow jutsu. The entire stadium was then stunned when he summarily forfeited, claiming that he was too low on charka to do anything about it.

Dissatisfied, the spectators had grumbled further when Kankuro forfeited his own match before it even started, granting Shino an automatic win.

With a put upon sigh, Genma announced the next match – Sasuke versus Gaara.

Gaara appeared in the arena in a swirl of sand and spike of chakra. His deadened gaze was locked on an increasingly flustered Genma as he waited for his opponent to show.

* * *

Up in the kage box, the Sandaime Hokage turned a questioning gaze on his counterpart, the Yondaime Kazekage. Sarutobi was fully aware that the person seating beside him was actually his traitor student, Orochimaru. He fully expected his student to try to convince him to defer Sasuke's match until he arrived. Thus, he was understandably surprised when the Kazekage spoke.

Orochimaru had been focused on the blond haired jinchuuriki from the onset. True to his expectations, Naruto had been spectacular. He fought back the instinctive need to lick his lips as he often did when observing an interesting specimen. He realized that the Sandaime – _sensei _– seemed to be waiting for his input. Although he had wanted to see the might of his next vessel go up against the power of an insane jinchuuriki, he consoled himself with the knowledge that if he couldn't watch Sasuke-kun, then he would watch the other person of interest._ Really, if the boy were not the vessel of the Kyuubi, I would have marked him with my cursed seal and claimed him…such potential_.

He turned to his sensei, and making sure to keep his speech as close to the person he was imitating as possible, he spoke,

"It is my opinion, Hokage-dono, that a Shinobi that cannot be on time, lacks discipline and respect for his superiors."

For an instant, Sarutobi was surprised, though he was too good to let it show, until his quick mind fired rapidly and made the necessary connections. He had to fight to keep from pouncing on the imitator next to him and ripping his head off, when he realized just who was the focus of his traitorous student…_Naruto_.

Displaying nothing to hint at the storm raging inside him, he stood up and walked to the edge of the kage box. His sheer presence easily commanded the attention of the entire stadium, and as he spoke, his even tone effortlessly carried to all ears present,

"When a Shinobi fails to show up for such an important event, he displays an appalling lack of discipline; a terrible flaw in character. He disrespects those who have come to see him, those who are his comrades, and above all, he disrespects his Kage. Thus, Uchiha Sasuke will be disqualified and struck off from the list of those being considered for promotion during these Chunin Selection Exams."

The crowd was subdued by the ancient legend's solemn tone, many of them finding themselves unable to argue with his reasoning. The more vocal sycophants amongst the Konoha population were silenced by the numerous nodding heads around them; their intended objections stifled before they could be made.

With a respectful nod to his Hokage, Genma turned back to the stadium and announced,

"Next match, Sabaku no Gaara versus Uzumaki Naruto"

At those words, Naruto materialized out of the air, right next to Genma, causing him to twitch minutely. Naruto's cool blue gaze was focused on the insane Ichibi Jinchuuriki, who was giving him a deranged grin in return.

Genma, sensing the imminent bloodshed about to occur, started the match and promptly high-tailed it out of there.

The spectators held their breaths in anticipation as the two juggernauts faced off. Most of the civilians present were unaware of Gaara's reputation, but even they were able to sense the bloodlust coming off of him in waves.

Up in the stands, the gathered ninja were feeling anxious, though it was harder to read in the jounin. The older ninja recognized the talent and huge potential in Naruto, and they worried that it might be snuffed out by the insane red haired jinchuuriki. The younger generation, recalling Gaara's brutality during the preliminaries, worried about their fellow genin.

Ino turned to her teacher and asked worriedly,

"Asuma-sensei, do you think that Naruto-kun will be okay?"

Before her sensei could lay her fears to rest, a droll tone interrupted him,

"Mah, Ino-chan, Naruto is a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself."

The gathered people flinched in slight surprise at the sudden appearance of the newcomer. Observing him slouched casually in place – ever present orange book in hand, the older ninja were reminded of the man's legendary status when they realized that none of them had sensed his arrival.

Asuma exchanged a knowing look with him when he noticed the absence of the Uchiha heir.

At the start of the month long intermission between events, the Hokage and his top ninja had gathered to discuss the issue of the presence of his traitorous student. With the additional input of Naruto's report concerning his own encounter with the Snake Sannin, they came up with a plan. Shikaku easily deduced that Orochimaru's interest lay in the Uchiha heir. With that in mind, they proceeded as follows: They sent off Sasuke with the Copy Shinobi to a secret training ground under the guise of _one-on-one_ training. There, Kakashi, as well as a hidden Anbu squad, would watch over Sasuke and prevent any preemptive attempts to capture him. Then during the finals, Kakashi would delay his student, causing him to be late to his match. They believed that any signal for an impending invasion would occur during the young genin's match. As such, they intended to force Orochimaru's hand by creating a scenario in which Sasuke would get disqualified; he could be easily raised to chunin status later, if he was deemed ready. In the event that Orochimaru did not jump the gun, Sasuke would still be kept away from him; they had decided that Sasuke wasn't so effective a ninja that his absence from the invasion would cripple their defenses. It was a win-win situation either way.

Presently, Sasuke was kept unconscious in a hidden room, known only to a handful of people and out of reach of any of Orochimaru's agents.

Sakura was quick to note Sasuke's absence and immediately inquired after him. Kakashi noticed that the question had also garnered the attention of the nearby people not in the know. He merely eye smiled and replied in a disarming voice,

"Well, he heard of his disqualification on the way here, and so he left to brood by himself."

No one, who wasn't privy to the truth, even suspected that he was lying; he was too good to get caught.

* * *

Back on the field, Gaara was getting impatient. He had been looking forward to spilling some of Naruto's blood, and he was glad that he didn't have to be delayed by fighting a weakling like Uchiha Sasuke. Deciding to make the first move, his right eye twitched.

Abruptly, the cork in his gourd exploded out of its position in the mouth, rocketing towards Naruto's head. It tore through the space previously occupied by his face.

Naruto vanished from his position and the ground where he had been standing suddenly cratered from the force of his push off. Before Gaara's eyes could widen at his phenomenal speed, Naruto was already spinning in the air in front of his face; his leg on a course to plough into the side of his head.

An insane smile suddenly flitted across Gaara's face as his sand, moving noticeably faster than it had during the preliminaries, was suddenly there to intercept Naruto's foot, formed into vicious spikes intended to mangle his leg.

Gaara's eyes widened as Naruto's foot passed through the sand like a ghost, the obstacle causing his form – _afterimage_ – to waver and disappear. His eyes then widened further, now from pain, when his body registered the arm planted in his gut. The silence, brought on by the sudden explosive start to the much anticipated match, allowed everyone to hear the cracking sound caused by the spider web cracks forming on Gaara's **Suna no Yoroi **(Sand Armor).

Gaara's body was stopped from flying away by a hand suddenly grasping one of the straps that secured his gourd to his back. He was dragged back in to receive an uppercut to his jaw, which succeeded in launching him feet into the air…_and away from the sand on the floor_.

His eyes, involuntarily closed after the blow, opened only to meet the fierce blue gaze of his opponent.

In a few heartbeats, he took in the scene before him.

He was suspended in mid-air, his body upright.

Naruto was suspended above him, his body pointing downwards with his hands by his side.

Naruto's legs were drawn in, as though he were about to launch off a surface.

Upright, with its own feet placed against Naruto's own, a clone was squatting, suspended in mid-air as well.

Across the stadium, eyes widened in anticipation as their owners took in and understood what was about to happen.

In an explosive burst, the two Narutos straightened out their legs, causing the original to be propelled towards Gaara at blurring speeds. Blue lightning suddenly erupted around his body, moments before he ploughed into Gaara. His voice somehow managed to cut through the sound of crackling lightning and Gaara's scream of pain, **Raiton: Ryuusei **(Lightning Release: Falling Star).

The two falling figures impacted powerfully with the floor, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and causing a huge booming sound. When the dust cleared, the spectators cheered as they saw a massive crater, with Gaara lying in the bottom. Naruto stood beside his downed body, impassively looking down at him; thus, he was completely prepared when Gaara retaliated.

Naruto smoothly ducked as a spike of sand tore through the air above his crouching form. He then pulled off a series of acrobatic manoeuvers to avoid the numerous arms of sand trying to capture him. His evasion finally took him far enough away from Gaara that he was able to get back to his feet, and make his was out of the crater.

Once the sand stopped rushing him, Naruto and everyone else watching focused on Gaara's figure.

Gaara's head was down, his hair creating a shadow that concealed his eyes. It began subtly, but eventually everyone noticed that his shoulders were shaking. Suddenly he threw his head back and _howled_ in mad laughter. Many in the audience shivered at the sheer amount of _monster_ contained in Gaara's voice, all of them descending into silence at the new development. When his laughter tapered off, he brought his head back down, allowing Naruto and those in his field of vision to see his eyes.

His pupils were gold and his sclera black.

The more sensitive ninja easily picked up the strong undertones of demon youki in his rising chakra. Gaara's chakra output eventually stopped rising, leveling off at slightly above kage levels. He gained a manic smile to match his just concluded laughter and spoke in a voice just oozing with _murder_,

"That's it Uzumaki Naruto. Make me feel alive!"

The end of his declaration was shouted out with his arms and face raised to the skies, as though in supplication.

And the battlefield responded.

Numerous spectators drew back in fear as mind boggling amounts of sand rose up from behind Gaara. Gallons and gallons of sand piled up into a wave that was twenty feet tall, casting both Gaara and Naruto into shadow.

Naruto was already moving before Gaara's arms had come down.

Before the suddenly approaching wave hit the floor, it broke up into countless ropes of sand that snaked through the air, approaching Naruto's dodging form, intending to capture and crush him. Gaara's arms moved in motion with the advancing the streams of sand, directing them towards his elusive foe. Naruto kept on dodging and weaving through the questing arms of sand. He was completely aware of the fact that Gaara was not just mindlessly chasing after him, and he fought to keep a smirk off his face.

Up in the stands, the genin were at the edge of their seats, constantly fearing for their comrade's wellbeing. The adult ninja were completely focused on the two battling genin; even Kakashi's book was put away for the time being.

Kakashi was the first to see what Naruto had long since known causing him to take an unconscious step forward in rising horror. The others around him frowned at his suddenly pale face, only focusing back on the match when they heard his hoarsely whispered words,

"No…shit…it's a trap."

Now that it was pointed out to them, they saw what it was that had bothered Kakashi. Gaara had been attacking Naruto, making it seem as though he was just mindlessly seeking his death. However, he had been leading Naruto towards a certain part of the arena; maneuvering him in such a way that only an outsider, watching on, could have noticed. Once Naruto landed in the designated place, the trap was sprung.

Naruto froze as he registered the incoming sand, _from all around him_. The sand arms that he had dodged had gone past him to approach from behind him and above him. In addition to the sand coming from his front, he was basically at the center of a rapidly shrinking hemisphere of sand, with no way out.

The spectators, even the two present Kages, all leaned forward in anxiety and, for some, anticipation as they watched the impending demise of the blond haired genin.

Gaara was nearly salivating in heady anticipation as he watched his sand get closer to the stationary figure of his enemy. With the entire stadium watching on, Naruto finally showed an expression on his previously disinterested face.

He smiled.

Before anyone could make heads or tails of Naruto's odd reaction, he acted.

Across the audience, pale pupil-less lavender eyes widened in stunned disbelief as Naruto lowered his stance while raising his arms to chest height; many of their owners easily recognizing the stance for what it was.

Numerous jaws then dropped when Naruto solemnly intoned,

**Raiton: Hakkeshou Kaiten** (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation).

A rotating dome of crackling blue lightning erupted from Naruto's suddenly spinning figure, easily deflecting the approaching strands of sand. As the outraged members of the Hyuuga clan watched on, Naruto utilized a modified version of one of their most prized techniques – far better than Neji ever did – to survive a previously fatal situation.

As the dome of chakra swatted away the questing arms of sand, some lightning bolts were discharged into the sand upon contact, instantly superheating it into glass, which subsequently shattered upon contact with the ground.

Up in the stands, Hyuuga Hiashi recalled Naruto's words to his nephew: _Now that you have shown me that move, you have allowed me to understand it_. Before his disbelieving eyes, he watched a genin do the impossible, absently noting that Naruto's speed of rotation was not constant, suggesting that he was better at the move than his nephew was.

Naruto slowly came out of his spin, chuckling to himself at the flabbergasted looks sported by a majority of the spectators.

Suddenly, he vanished from his position, _and because he was mean like that_, he materialized in front of Gaara already in another ready stance.

Previously widened lavender eyes widened even further as their owners surged to their feet with cries of outrage on their lips. Naruto's cool voice effortlessly cut through the noise in the sudden stadium,

**Raiton: Hakke Hyaku Nijuuhachi Shou** (Lightning Release: Eight Trigrams One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms).

With a flash of blue and the crackle of electricity discharging from his fingertips, he struck.

Only the two Kages and a handful of jounin were able to track his blurred hands as he forced lightning chakra into Gaara's muscles, sometimes even hitting his tenketsus, disrupting his chakra flow and causing him tremendous pain.

It was over in an instant.

Gaara was launched backwards, his mouth open in a soundless scream, as the full pain of the attack bore down on him. He crashed into the floor in a twitching heap while around the combatants, previously airborne sand collapsed limply without any chakra to support it.

The entire stadium was silent. the spectators too stunned to make a sound, as Naruto smoothly slid out of his finishing stance, his eyes never straying from Gaara's figure.

In a swirl of leaves, Genma was suddenly standing beside Naruto, his eyes similarly locked on Gaara's prone form. His hand came up to point at Naruto as he took a deep breath to announce the end of the match.

It never came.

Gaara suddenly arched upwards from the floor. His mouth opened and he _roared_.

The stadium exploded in a massive heart-stopping surge of gold and black demonic youki.

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	12. Like the heavens above

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN**:So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.**

* * *

Many of the gathered spectators found themselves rooted to their seats in stark terror. Even some amongst the genin were having a hard time keeping their composure under the thickening clog of bloodlust slowly choking them.

Genma took a step forward, intending to intervene before things got too out of hand, but a gentle yet unyielding hand arrested his movement. He followed the arm back to its owner and had to fight down the shudder that threatened to crawl up his spine. Staring back at him were cool, clear, and focused azure eyes which pierced him to his very core. _Yondaime-sama_, he couldn't help but think; having been on the man's personal guard, he had found himself under just such a gaze more than once.

Naruto's calm tone broke him out of his reverie,

"It is fine, I can handle him."

Blinking at that, Genma found himself unable to doubt the teen, yet he would still follow protocol. He turned a questioning gaze up to his Hokage, waiting for his direction on how to proceed.

Sarutobi easily ignored the amount of killing intent saturating the air around him, his gaze instead focused on the blond haired genin currently looking back at him. In that blue gaze, he read a request not to interfere; a request for him to believe in Naruto. With a slight incline of his head, he leaned back in his seat, waiting to see how his successor's son would handle the situation.

The previously tense Konoha ninja in the stadium took their cues from their wizened leader and relaxed – not fully, but enough not to be on high alert.

By this time, the explosion of chakra had subsided enough for everyone to see Gaara's figure. Stifled screams of fright erupted from various mouths among the stands as they all beheld Gaara's monstrous new form.

Covered from head to toe in sand, Gaara perfectly resembled, in miniature, the very beast that he contained within him. His tail, made entirely of sand, waved lazily in the air behind him. His eyes contained a greater amount of madness than they had before, yet in them, Naruto saw something that managed to surprise him.

Gaara was still in control.

It seemed like this incarnation of Gaara was one of the rare ones who had full control of their tenant's chakra; of course, being only one tail worth of demonic chakra, it was made somewhat easier to control.

Naruto's acute hearing suddenly picked up nearly silent laughter coming from Gaara. It slowly rose in volume until the entire stadium was ringing with sheer _insanity_ _made sound_. Gaara howled like a mad animal, nothing but seething bloodlust in his voice.

At this point, even the chunin among the audience had paled in rising terror.

Finally, Gaara's malevolent chakra stabilized and when ninja took a measure of it, then the jounin amongst them lost their color as well.

It was Kage level…_times three_.

Gaara took a step forward and silence descended like a curtain across the entire stadium, most of it brought on by fear of what was to come. He took another, then another, then another after that. Each successive step was taken faster than the last, until he was hurtling across the ground, moving at high speeds, only to suddenly launch his sand encased right arm at Naruto's head when he was within striking distance.

Naruto smoothly slid out of the way of the attack, and the other lumbering ones that came after it; his greater speed making it a trivial issue to evade the blows. He then saw an opening and, without wasting any time, he viciously exploited it. His right leg rocketed into Gaara's stomach…and stopped there.

A terror inducing grin split across Gaara's face as he just about sang, **Fuuton: Daitoppa** (Wind Release: Great Blast). He took in a deep breath and, just before expelling the powerful attack, he noticed a pale blue flicker of light run down the leg lodged in his stomach. Forcefully spitting out the powerful jutsu in Naruto's face, he was launched backwards as the lightning clone detonated from the lethal assault, causing painful electrical shocks to his system.

Gaara was back on his feet in a flash, casting his gaze across the stadium, looking for his elusive prey when his head suddenly whipped to the right under the force of Naruto's roundhouse kick. Before he could recover from that, he felt another vicious kick connect with his head, propelling him towards the wall of the stadium.

He never made it.

With a ground shaking boom, a cloud of dust was kicked up, obscuring the two combatants from view. When it cleared, someone whistled as the scene revealed Naruto standing on Gaara's head, having obviously just stomped on him, both located within a respectably sized crater.

Naruto leapt off of Gaara's prone figure and landed at the mouth of the hole in the ground.

Slowly, Gaara got back to his feet with sand rising from the ground to patch up whatever damages he had sustained so far.

The spectators roared in approval at the action packed match, many of them forgetting the fear that had previously gripped them.

Gaara slowly spun to lock eyes with Naruto's stationary figure. He opened his mouth and the voice that issued out of it had the undertones of _things that go bump in the night_,

"Uzumaki Naruto…mother will have your blood!"

With that simple statement, he slammed his fists into the ground at his feet.

_It began slowly_.

Eventually, even the civilians picked up on the rumbling sound of moving earth and before any of them could ask what the cause of the sound was, it revealed itself.

Half of the entire battlefield exploded upwards into a mind blowing towering wave of sand. It climbed higher and higher until its very shadow extended beyond the stands, casting them into partial darkness.

Eyes widened in disbelieving horror, most of the people watching pushed back in their seats, as far as they could go, all to get away from the terror inducing sight before them.

Through all the panic permeating the air, Naruto evenly looked back at Gaara, his unbothered gaze aggravating the mad jinchuuriki even more.

With a bloodthirsty roar, Gaara flung his arms forward and the dance began.

Right off the bat, Naruto noticed that the sands were moving significantly faster than they previously had. In fact, they seemed to be moving faster than his raw speed at his level. Not yet willing to remove one level of his custom limiter, he pushed his body to the limit, utilizing all that his long life had taught him to dodge and weave through the perilous arms of sand.

Gaara, having long since emerged from the hole in the ground, watched with an ever widening grin on his face as his opponent was hard pressed to survive his onslaught. He abruptly forced more chakra into the sand he was controlling and then with a burst of speed, one of the arms racing towards Naruto surged forward, faster than before.

To Gaara, and some of the people watching, it seemed as though the world had stopped.

Naruto had sensed the approaching sand and moved his head out of the way of the suddenly faster tendril, but he was not fast enough.

A thin line of blood appeared on his left cheek; the sand having effortlessly sliced through his facemask to get to the skin beneath it.

In the stands, Sakura, and even Kakashi, leaned forward in the disbelief.

In the arena, Gaara's pupils dilated so wide that his eyes were now completely gold colored. Before anyone could react to the new development, his chakra spiked powerfully as Shukaku's own bloodlust joined with and heightened his own, at the sight of bleeding prey.

With the spectators watching on, the sand surged forward…_too fast_.

Naruto wove, curled, jumped and twisted as hard as he could, but even he knew that at his level, he was only delaying the inevitable. He pulled out manoeuvers that he had learnt as a taijutsu master in his past lives. He even resorted to jumping off nearby strands of sand, to escape certain death.

_It wasn't enough_.

He knew that he was going to get caught, and when it did finally happen, to those who cared for the blond haired genin, it was like watching a train wreck.

Naruto jumped back to avoid sand that had suddenly dove towards him.

He landed and prepared to leap again, when he noticed Gaara's triumphant grin.

He immediately cast his senses out and his eyes widened when he realized the trap that he had just landed in. He forced chakra to his legs in preparation for an evasive manoeuver, but it was already too late.

The sand at his feet, filled with Gaara's chakra, suddenly shifted.

For an instant, Naruto was off balance.

It was long enough.

Naruto's legs were suddenly encased in sand to hold him in place and, before he could react, more sand lurched forward to cover his entire body.

Some of the spectators screamed in fright at the new development, worried about the fate of their favorite participant.

Kakashi paled and tensed, unconsciously taking a step forward in rising trepidation.

Sarutobi's grip on his pipe became punishing as the lines in his face became fixed.

Orochimaru leaned forward in anticipation, eager to see how the enterprising blond haired genin would get out of his predicament.

Without wasting any time, Gaara howled out his glee,

"Die!"

Then before the horrified gaze of the Konoha Shinobi, the sand imploded…_and all was silent._

* * *

Kakashi, hoping that his student had pulled off another spectacular move, frantically cast his gaze around the stadium, looking for a sign. However, he slumped in sorrow when his sharp eye caught bits of red visible in interspaced spots around the cocoon of sand.

As Gaara opened his mouth to celebrate his final victory, an object suddenly crashed into the ground behind him. Eyes wide in hesitant denial, he slowly turned his body to the rapidly clearing cloud of dust.

The dust eventually dispersed to reveal Naruto's bare-chested kneeling figure. He had one hand fisted on the ground, and his hair, freed from the obstruction of his headband, hung low into his eyes.

Kakashi's gaze cut back to the remnants of the sand cocoon and he sighed in relief when he noticed that the red was in fact caused by the tattered pieces of Naruto's red muscle shirt.

Many of the spectators observed him, wide-eyed, with a few blushes here and there. The ninja in particular noted his flawless skin, not understanding how someone in his profession could have no scars whatsoever.

With a start, most of the Konoha spectators realized that this was the first time in over two years that any of them would be seeing his face. Many of them had long since forgotten just what he looked like, and more than a few were eager to see what was beneath his facemask.

With smooth and graceful movements, Naruto got back to his feet, and when he raised his head to face Gaara, and coincidentally, the stands as well, numerous jaws dropped in shock.

Standing there, ocean blue eyes calm and focused, blond-hair freed from restraint, and with a smooth and handsome _unscarred_ face, Naruto cut a truly awe-inspiring figure. His resemblance to his father had never before been as obvious as it was at that moment. Indeed, many watching immediately noticed the hair-raising similarities between the genin standing before them and the late Yondaime Hokage. And with that thought, dangerous realizations began to take root in many a mind.

Paying no attention to the sudden outbreak of muttering amongst the spectators, he let loose a near silent sigh. He absently raised his eyes to the skies when he noticed a shadow passing over the sun. He took in the gathering clouds, and recalled that it usually rained at this time…_excellent_, he thought to himself. He dropped his head, his piercing gaze focused on Gaara, and his calm, even tone effortlessly cut through the noise in the stadium, capturing the attention of everyone present,

"You know Gaara, I am…somewhat glad that you are my opponent."

That statement confused many of the watchers, Gaara included. While they were trying to understand what he meant, Naruto unobtrusively released one level of his limiter seal while simultaneously clamping down on his chakra to prevent anyone from noticing its sudden increase. He fought not to react to the sudden rush of power filling his veins as more of his chakra suddenly became accessible to him. At this new level, his speed was Kage level, as was his strength as well.

His eyes refocused on Gaara's slightly confused ones, and he explained his somewhat vague statement, while slowly molding a relatively small portion of his now vast reserves of chakra,

"Of all the genin participants, besides me, you are the most durable, and therefore the most likely one to survive a full assault from me."

Gaara gained a perplexed look on his face, unable to understand why Naruto had just said what he did.

Before people could express their own disbelief at the sudden knowledge that Naruto had been holding back, they noticed a sudden disturbance in the air around Naruto's form. All confusion fled from Gaara's face, and the faces of those in the stands, when he noticed how the sand at Naruto's feet was swirling. Immediately, he cast his senses out and stumbled back in rising fear.

Up in the stands, the higher ranked ninja found themselves flabbergasted at the amount of chakra Naruto still had. Many of the older Konoha Shinobi wondered if all the chakra they had felt him using so far was his alone, before dismissing the thought as ludicrous; there was no way they would have missed the feeling of Kyuubi's chakra if he was indeed using it.

The civilians, who were unable to sense Naruto's chakra output, wondered at the hesitation being shown by the sand covered killer. They all received their answer when the air around Naruto suddenly exploded in a massive blazing blue corona of energy.

Gaara flinched in shock when Naruto's powerful blue chakra became visible around him, noticing that the eruption of chakra had even dented the ground at the blond genin's feet.

It began slowly, but eventually, even the civilians watching picked up on the hum of electricity in the air as Naruto's chakra gradually turned Lightning natured.

The spectators all leaned forward in anticipation of whatever the remarkable young genin would do next.

Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw.

Naruto's eyes locked on Gaara's black and gold ones and the Suna jinchuuriki noticed that his eyes seemed to be giving off little forks of lightning from time to time. And then, all other thoughts, save a paralyzing fear, fled his mind when Naruto's voice cut through the air,

**Raiton: Shunko** (Lightning Release: Flash Cry)

For a moment, everything was frozen: the crowds were silent, the air was still, Gaara was frozen in place, and Naruto was motionless.

Then without warning, the very air tore with a piercing cry as the region around Naruto's form detonated with a surge of supercharged lightning chakra.

Through the furious storm of chakra, the gathered people could barely make out what was happening as lightning was gathered at specific parts of Naruto's figure: his hands, feet, and at his upper back. When the explosion of chakra finally died down, they beheld Naruto's new form.

He stood before them, form wreathed in flickering and crackling blue-white power. He looked as though he were suited with boots and gauntlets made of condensed lightning. The lightning congregated at his limbs constantly gave off sparks and bolts that effortlessly tore up the ground around him.

* * *

Across the stadium, ocular doujutsu were activated as members of the Hyuuga family tried to understand the effect of the new jutsu.

Amongst the Konoha jounin, a gasp drew the attention of the ninja present to one of their number, a Hyuuga jounin who had his Byakugan active. Without prompting, he began to describe what his eyes were telling him, causing those within earshot to lean forward in interest, which slowly turned to astonishment.

"Amazing...this is unbelievable. His chakra is not just coating his limbs, but it is actually affecting his internal organs as well. Indeed, the lightning seems to be stimulating his nervous system as a whole, augmenting it and allowing it perform at unbelievable levels; I can only assume that his reflexes would have been increased tenfold. Also, the muscles in his limbs are being affected as well and enhanced drastically, leading me to conclude that his speed and strength are being raised to phenomenal levels. All in all, it is most likely a body enhancement jutsu much like the Yondaime Raikage's **Raiton no Yoroi** (Lightning Release Armor)."

When he finished, he looked around to find the disbelieving faces of his comrades. Many of the civilians who had been within hearing range were also in awe of the jutsu they were witnessing.

Before more could be said on the matter, Naruto attacked. Having already been above Kage level at level six, the use of the body enhancement jutsu put him beyond the reach of every ninja present in the stadium, with speed that rivaled the Yondaime Raikage when using his lightning armor.

The entire stadium was still gaping at the scene before them, when a sharp cry of pain caused everyone to quickly focus on Gaara. Eyes narrowed in confusion as they noticed that Gaara's stocky form was hunched over in obvious pain, with no visible cause before them.

Without any prior warning, lightning suddenly erupted from Gaara's back, blasting off to tear a clean hole through the wall behind him.

Breath locked in his throat from the mind numbing pain of having a powerful bolt of lightning pass clean through him as well as from the mighty impact to his stomach, Gaara's back arched, his head thrown backwards, and mouth opened to scream; just before he was abruptly blasted away with a boom of sound as he received a punishing roundhouse kick to his face.

His rapid flight was painfully halted by an unrelenting elbow to his back, before he was forcibly returned the way he came by a follow up punch.

The gathered watchers swiveled their heads in confusion, trying in vain to catch sight of the person that was attacking Gaara; Naruto still stood in his spot, gazing forward impassively.

As Gaara crashed into the wall on the far side of the stadium, the spectators finally noticed as Naruto's form wavered and finally disappeared…_afterimage_. They expressed their approval in a cheer so loud, the grounds seemed to shake with their voice.

* * *

"Un…un…unbelievable!"

The stuttered cry of Konoha's famed beast drew the attention of the people near him, before they followed his gaze to find Naruto standing at Gaara's last position, his hand still outstretched after delivering his bone jarring punch. As Gai continued to speak, the people near him refocused on his words,

"I…I couldn't even see him move."

Before the full implications of his statement could set in, he turned to his left to cast a questioning gaze at his silver haired eternal rival.

With a shake of his head, Kakashi replied,

"I could just barely keep up…and even then…"

Astonished silence descended on the gathered jounin when Kakashi turned to face them, revealing that he had uncovered his sharingan eye…and still only just barely managed to follow Naruto's movements.

The Konoha ninjas present were furiously racking their brains for any memory that hinted at Naruto's sudden skill; at this time, they were far beyond the point of brushing it off as the power of his tenant. None of them could fathom how such an obviously powerful genin had flown under the radar for so long. The foreign ninja amongst them were feeling the faint stirrings of unease in the pits of their stomachs as they beheld the finely controlled power behind one of Konoha's new blood. Any of them who had been entertaining thoughts of Konoha's fall from being the top of the food chain promptly squashed said thoughts. _If that was what a genin could do, what about the jounin? What about...the Hokage?_

The Konoha genin, on the other hand, were struggling with the sudden onset of feelings of inadequacy. There, before their very eyes, was a genin that most of them had dismissed as a poor excuse for a ninja. None of them could understand how they had never noticed any improvement in Naruto over the years that they had known him; none of them had any warning to prepare them for their suddenly too powerful age mate.

Sarutobi relaxed back in his chair, and set about refilling his pipe. He shook his head as he marveled at the amazing skill being shown by his successor's legacy. However, he let loose a slightly weary sigh as he was forced to acknowledge that Jiraiya had been right when he warned him that Naruto wasn't being fully open with them when they last spoke in his office. _Still_, he thought to himself, _for all that he has been through, the young lad is due his own secrets_.

Orochimaru had to force down the shudders of near ecstasy that threatened to wrack his body. He was however unable to stifle the reflexive urge to lick his lips as he trained his gaze on the glowing form of Uzumaki Naruto. His mind had been made up from the moment he saw Namikaze's brat utilize the Hyuuga defensive jutsu…he would have the genin for study; the display before him just roused his enthusiasm to greater heights. Still, he mastered his rising anticipation; it was not yet time to act.

The attention of the spectators was dragged back to the rapidly escalating match as they heard the pained grunting of Gaara.

* * *

Gaara finally managed to peel himself off of the wall and he swayed on his feet as Shukaku's youki worked furiously to heal the damage he had just sustained. Once he felt his injuries vanish, he turned his baleful gaze onto his enemy. Gritting his teeth at the calm and unbothered look directed back at him, he furiously flung his arms out at Naruto.

Mind boggling amounts of sand surged forward once more at Gaara's gesture, suddenly bearing down on Naruto's position.

With a small and amused smile, Naruto vanished from where he was standing.

Without warning, save for Naruto's sudden absence, Gaara was booted forward by a kick to his back. He landed in the middle of the battlefield, and quickly got back to his feet, his thick sand coated arms already weaving through the air as he directed numerous strands of sand, trying to capture Naruto.

Naruto, with the same smile on his face, flickered from place to place in the stadium, each time materializing only long enough for Gaara to catch a glimpse of his form and react to it.

Left, right, behind, and in front, Gaara directed his sand all over the place, trying in vain to finally catch and kill his opponent, all the while unaware that he was being maneuvered into a trap.

Suddenly, Naruto vanished but did not appear in Gaara's field of vision again. Snapping his head left and right, Gaara frantically tried to locate his opponent before he struck again. It was then that his hearing picked up the mutterings of the crowd. Turning to the stands, he noticed that everyone was pointing upwards. With great reluctance, and no small amount of fear, he looked up to find, suspended in the air above him, what looked to be a large sealing script made out of lightning. Sensing a presence before him, he dropped his gaze to find Naruto standing in front of him, out of reach of his sand.

Slowly, Naruto's right arm came up to point at the writing in the air. With a sizzle and zap, the lightning shrouding his limbs suddenly congregated at his fingertip and then leapt, in the form of a powerful bolt, towards the sealing script, which then began to grow brighter and brighter.

Gaara, seeing that Naruto's body enhancement jutsu had been cancelled was about to send sand to crush him, when some instinct made him look back up at the script in the air. If he could have paled, he would have; the script was now giving off little sparks of lightning, as though it were _a time bomb_. With a flash of cold fear down his spine, he abruptly remembered Naruto's fight with Neji and the seemingly harmless lighting bird. Furiously he reached for the numerous strands of sand around the battlefield, and that was when he realized what Naruto's real intentions had been.

While Gaara had been sending his sand out to capture the ever elusive Naruto, the ground around him had been gradually stripped bare of its covering of sand. At the end of it all, the effect was that from a bird's eye view, it would look like Gaara was standing in a circle of bare ground about ten feet in diameter, while all around him at the edge of the circle, long strands of sand were rooted to the ground, waving in the air. The result was that while the sand provided an almost impregnable defense from a frontal attack, like a flower in bloom, it was easily susceptible to attacks from above.

Now, as Gaara tried to get the sand to return from where it was, he knew that the sand was too far away, and that he would be too slow.

Indeed, for while his sand was still feet away, Naruto spoke in a soft voice that was easily heard in the stadium,

**Raiton: Kami no Sabaki** (Lightning Release: Judgement of God).

And with a roar of blinding white light, Gaara knew pain.

To the spectators present, it was like the world had just come to an end. The entirety of the world perceived by their senses reduced to pure white nothingness; unable to see because of the blindingly bright explosion of light, and unable to hear because of the ringing silence brought on by the boom of sound beyond human hearing. For the Hyuugas with their ocular doujutsu as well as the Inuzukas with their sensitive hearing, it was far worse.

Eventually, their sights cleared, and the ringing petered out into true silence, allowing them to behold the magnificent and awe inspiring devastation left behind by Naruto's attack.

At first glance, it was immediately obvious that Gaara had somehow survived the massive attack, though he was obviously in no shape to continue; the glass sphere at ground zero was proof of Shukaku's successful efforts to keep his host alive. When it had become evident that the sand in the field was too dispersed for Gaara to gather it in time, the sand encasing his body had gathered itself into a defensive sphere moments before the attack had struck. By pumping all the youki he had into the sand sphere, Shukaku was able to keep Gaara alive through the heavy nigh apocalyptic assault.

The lightning attack had however managed to smelt the sand sphere as well as the ground around it into glass, causing some burns to Gaara's already injured body. Abruptly, with the sound of tinkling bells, the sphere shattered to deposit Gaara's barely conscious and panting form onto the floor.

* * *

The entire stadium was completely silent, save for the short breaths of the defeated red haired genin, everyone trying to take in the shocking end to the match.

Gaara was only able to crawl a few inches before his strength finally failed him, and for the first time in his life, he passed out into full unconsciousness.

Temari and Kankuro were speechless as they watched their brother pass out. It had never occurred to them, in all the years that they had known him, that he could ever be defeated. It was an unspoken understanding in Suna that the only ninja able to handle Gaara was the Yondaime Kazekage, owing to his use of **Sakin no Jutsu** (Gold Dust Technique). To see him now, brought low by a mere genin, baffled their minds

The spectators were completely entertained by such a stunning conclusion to a spectacular match. To the potential clients in particular, it was a show like no other. _Surely_, they thought, _if one of the little ones can call down lightning from the sky, Konoha must indeed be the mightiest of Shinobi villages_.

Amongst the foreign Shinobi, all lingering thoughts of post Kyuubi weakness were completely dispelled in the wake of Naruto's performance.

Sarutobi looked on with pride as the stands finally erupted in cheers and applause when Genma officially declared Naruto the winner. It warmed his heart to know that the future of Konoha rested in such dependable hands._ Oh Minato, if only you could see your boy now…you would be so proud._

Orochimaru gazed at the figure of Uzumaki, no, _Namikaze_ Uzumaki Naruto and he was intrigued. At the start of the match he had focused on the blond haired child because he seemed to be a riddle, and ever the scientist, Orochimaru had wanted to figure him out. Who was this genin that would dare to stand against Orochimaru the Snake Charmer, and live to tell the tale? He had wanted to see just how much of the Yondaime's genius had bred true, and he was not disappointed. Yet, now that his haze of distracting glee had passed, he allowed himself to recognize the danger that such a powerful young genin posed to him, especially if he was this powerful at such a young age. Despite his desire to see what heights the child could attain, he knew that if he couldn't have him, then no one must be allowed to either.

The pride shining in Kakashi's lone eye – his sharingan having been hastily covered up when Naruto's last attack had been launched – was unmistakable. It was somewhat subdued by the knowledge that he had not played major part in the growth of his sensei's son, but he consoled himself with the promise to do better in the future. Still, despite his misgivings and feelings of failure, he was proud of his student, and pseudo little brother, and he knew that his sensei would have been as well.

The members of the Konoha population present in the stadium found their long held beliefs under heavy attack. The child that they had long since tried to put down had grown and flourished into a phenomenal ninja, a legend in the making. Their feelings of shame and regret were further worsened by the chilling resemblance the boy bore to their much beloved deceased Yondaime Hokage. The knowledge of that resemblance, in addition to the blazing speed that the young genin had just displayed, caused many of them to find themselves beginning to draw conclusions about the child's heritage. Still, even without the possibility of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki being the hokage's son, the enthusiastic cheering of the foreigners around them told them quite clearly that they had misjudged the genin, and that in doing so, they had betrayed the ideal that Senju Hashirama had fought to create; the very Will of Fire that Namikaze Minato had given his life for.

Naruto calmly observed the cheering crowd before him, listening to their shouted praises, and in some cases, marriage proposals. Smothering a huff of amused laughter at that last bit, his senses suddenly warned him of an approaching chakra signature, causing him to turn his gaze to the space in front of Gaara's prone figure, just in time for Temari and Kankuro to materialize out of their shunshin. The two Suna genin promptly froze when they noticed the cool scrutiny of the blond haired Konoha genin, completely afraid to make a move lest he decide to harm them.

Without taking his eyes off the two, Naruto probed the chakra available to him at level six. He had to fight back a pleased smile when he realized he still had the equivalent of the Sanbi's chakra capacity left; his absolute mastery over the lightning element insured that his jutsu used the least amount of chakra necessary for the maximum amount of damage. Also, the fact that the levels of the seal were not linear in power, but roughly exponential, meant that he probably wouldn't have to release another level to deal with the coming invasion.

It was just as he reached that conclusion that the enemies struck.

* * *

Naruto didn't even flinch when the Kage's box exploded in a cloud of smoke, knowing from past lives that the Sandaime Hokage could handle Orochimaru and his bag of tricks for at least half an hour before he would need backup. His attention was instead focused on the rapidly approaching hail of pointy death launched by the multitude of invading ninja who wanted to snuff out what was obviously Konoha's greatest potential. Noticing that the majority of the Konoha ninja were tied up fending off the invaders, Naruto did not bother waiting for help. As he turned to handle the attack headed his way, he saw that Konoha jounins had finally noticed the numerous kunai and shuriken bearing down on him, but were unable to move to help him. As the projectiles got closer, Naruto merely raised his two hands to them and intoned,

**Jiton: Tengoku no Sekiryoku **(Magnetic Release: Heavenly Repulsion).

Heads turned to his direction in slight interest when they heard him speak and then jaws summarily dropped as their owners registered their rapidly returning projectiles, all unerringly aimed at only invading Shinobi. The faster ninja amongst them were able to dodge, but a handful of them were still either injured or killed by the reflected assault.

Before the ninja could adjust to Naruto's baffling act, he went and pulled another one.

Bringing up a single handed ram seal, while also unsealing his ninjato from a previously invisible tattoo on his arm, he molded half of the chakra he currently possessed and then clearly stated,

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)

Across the grounds, some enemy ninjas paled in disbelieving horror as two hundred solid replicas of the shirtless genin materialized without sound or smoke in the center of the stadium, all armed with the same sword. Naruto gave a satisfied nod when his senses revealed that each of the clones had high jounin level reserves.

As if the sudden arrival of backup was not enough, the clones formed a hand seal in eerie synchronization and spoke with one voice,

**Shunko** (Flash Cry)

A third of the invading forces present in the stadium died in the first few seconds before the light given off by the jutsu had faded. Of those that were left, all the chunin perished in the next ten seconds, while only thirty clones were forcefully dispersed, and all by jounins as they slew the chunins around them. Now, of the six hundred enemy ninja present in the stands, only about a hundred and fifty remained.

Some of the more cowardly ninja surrendered once they saw the rapid decrease in their numbers, and they were knocked out and taken away to a makeshift prison in the meantime. The others were ruthlessly cut down by the relatively more numerous Konoha ninja amongst them. All in all, it had taken under ten minutes from start to finish for the stadium to be brought under control, with only a handful of Konoha ninjas dead; three minutes after Naruto's clones had joined the fray.

The fighting done for now, the ninjas turned to watch as the numerous blonds all turned in unison to face the original, who was still standing in the center of the stadium. To those watching, it seemed as though Naruto merely nodded at his clones before they all suddenly took off into the rest of the village, no doubt to help fight off the intruders there. However, he had actually transmitted instructions to them to go and handle the rest of the intruders, focusing their efforts on the Academy, the Shelters and the Hospital.

In the confusion brought on by the sudden attack, Temari and Kankuro had taken the chance to collect Gaara and flee the stadium, heading into the forest via a hole that Naruto had put in the wall. They had not gone unnoticed however as Kabuto, in his disguise as a Konoha Anbu, had followed them, intending to see to the Suna Jinchuuriki in order for him to be able to play his part in the invasion. With a foreboding smirk on his face, he realized that he would probably have to inject his master's trial drug into him to stimulate the regeneration of his tenant's chakra.

Kakashi, seeing that the enemies in the vicinity had been subdued, turned to the genin near him to give them their orders for the defense of Konoha. After he had sent off the members of the Rookie Nine present, he turned to call Naruto over, just in time to watch him vanish from the stadium, heading to who knows where. With an exasperated sigh, he turned his focus to the huge barrier separating the Hokage and Orochimaru from the others, and went to see what he could do.

* * *

Ibiki sighed in frustration as another batch of Konoha ninja were casually wiped out by the humongous snake summons brought by the invading Suna and Oto ninjas. The five snakes, including the three headed one, had long since smashed huge holes in Konoha's towering walls; the only thing keeping them outside was the constant onslaught of Konoha Shinobi fighting to stall them. Still, at the rate things were going, Ibiki knew that they would have to pull back and allow the summons, as well as the ninja who summoned them, to fully breach the walls. Before he could deliver the order for a tactical retreat, a shouted cry heralded the arrival of the Toad Sannin,

**Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu **(Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique).

With a might cloud of smoke, one of the five huge snakes was ruthlessly crushed by an equally large toad armed with twin swords. Standing on the head of the toad, white hair fluttering in the wind, Jiraiya gazed down on the ninja who were now staring at him in awe and gratitude. With a smile on his face, he was about to commence his usual introductory dance routine, when with a flash of light and boom of thunder, his godson was suddenly standing beside him.

Many of the gathered ninja flinched in shock at the sudden appearance of the genin, and most of them couldn't help but liken his arrival to that of the Yondaime Hokage. The similarity was further enhanced by the fact that Naruto had finally gotten some clothes to where; a white cloak with lightning bolts at the bottom worn over a blue muscle shirt, with his headband back around his forehead.

Turning to his godfather, Naruto spoke while the ninja were still adjusting to his sudden presence,

"The Old man needs your help; Orochimaru has trapped him in a barrier in the stadium and the Konoha ninjas can't get in. I can take over from you here."

Giving his godson an assessing look, Jiraiya, to the consternation of the Konoha ninja who had been waiting for him, gave Naruto a nod and turned to leap towards the stadium. Just as the invading ninjas were beginning to smirk at the Toad Sannin's departure, Naruto jumped towards them, and while still in the air, he bit his thumb, blurred through three hand seals, and slapped his hands down in midair,

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu** (Summoning Technique)

The cloud of smoke that was formed covered everything in the vicinity, making the people present unable to see. When it finally cleared, the enemy ninja could do naught but blink at what they saw.

Naruto stood on the head of the toad which a few Konoha jounins identified as the Master swordsman of the Toad clan, Gamahiro, while around him were Gamaken and two other equally huge toads. While the ninja were taking in the arrivals of the Toads, a buzz of sound heralded the sudden arrival of ten of Naruto's clones, all clad in lightning and all wielding a sword crackling with lightning chakra.

The standoff between the two factions was abruptly broken when Naruto appeared in front of the jounin leading the invading forces present, ninjato already pierced through his heart, and a cold look in his blue eyes. The Konoha ninjas, bolstered by the presence of the summons and the obvious skill of the blond haired genin – as evidenced by Jiraiya's faith in him, surged forward with a unified war cry,

"For the Will of Fire!"

* * *

Iruka's hand trembled almost unnoticeably as he watched some of his remaining fellow Academy instructors struggle to maintain the earth wall that was keeping the enemy ninjas out of the Academy. Once the invasion had started, the academy instructors had gathered as many young children as they could and, just as they had practiced, they all fled towards the academy, intending to use the secret passage there to take them to the Shelters. However, they had gotten waylaid by dozens of enemy ninjas and in the struggle, only about half of the Academy instructors had survived to get everyone inside the Academy and safe for the moment.

Iruka knew that the enemies were just toying with them since they hadn't even tried to break through the windows that were undefended in the room they were holed up in. The Konoha people present were able to watch as most of the gathered invaders lounged around while, from time to time, one of them would launch an attack at the earth wall defending the place. It was a bad situation because keeping up the wall drained chakra regardless of if it was under assault or not, and the Konoha ninjas didn't dare take it down even if no one was attacking it, since they couldn't guarantee that they could bring it back up fast enough.

Some of the children whimpered as one of the three chunin holding the walls slumped over in chakra exhaustion; the other two, now fronting more of the chakra cost wouldn't last much longer. The fifty or so invaders outside, sensing weakness, slowly began to make congregate at the entrance, waiting for the wall to finally fall.

Inside the room, the teachers and children watched them approach, when suddenly, with a flash of light and a boom of rolling thunder, there were three blond haired shirtless figures kneeling in the midst of the enemies. Iruka only had time to question, "Naruto?"

Before the three copies of his favorite student were in motion, swinging their lightning charged ninjatos and scything down the invaders. The enemies, expecting little resistance at the Academy, had sent only genin with a handful of chunin. Against foes that were jounin level before using a body enhancement jutsu, they were dead in seconds.

The children broke out in cheers when they noticed that all the enemies had been taken down, too relieved to actually care about the dead bodies before their eyes. The chunins finally let down the earth wall and collapsed in exhaustion. The three clones entered the academy while deactivating their lightning jutsu, and immediately moved to attend to the injured ninja amongst them, their hands glowing green with the **Shousen no Jutsu** (Mystical Palm Technique). Around them, children cheered, and Iruka smiled in relief and pride at the blond haired ninjas before him.

* * *

Back at the stadium, the three Naruto clones still present arrived at the barrier on the roof just in time to hear Jiraiya curse,

"Damn it! The only way in is to disable the barrier with a counter seal and that will take too long to make."

The smirking form of Tayuya, one of Orochimaru's elite Sound ninja, taunted the Konoha Shinobi gathered around the huge barrier, unable to do anything from outside, while inside, their hokage battled against three Kages.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth as he began to take out sealing supplies to get started on the counter seal, when he noticed three of his godson's clones standing there. The Anbu around him followed his gaze when the sensed the three newcomers and wondered what they were doing there.

The clone in the lead exchanged looks with the other two and, with a unified nod, the two beside him each placed one of their hands on him while also forming a ram seal with the other. The hands placed on the lead clone's shoulders began to glow blue and before any of those present could react, the other two clones transferred all of their remaining chakra to him and smoothly faded out of existence. Now armed with slightly more chakra than he was created with, the lone clone stepped forward to face Tayuya, who couldn't help but spit out,

"And just what the fuck do you think you're going to do huh, Shit face?"

In response, the clone slowly wove five hand seals and with a chilling finality, he solemnly intoned,

**Raiton Kinjutsu: Oni no Kugutsu **(Lightning Release Forbidden Technique: Demonic Puppetry).

Tayuya screamed as the clone abruptly hijacked the electrical impulses running along her nervous system, forcibly ripping control of her body from her brain. The ninjas present watched on in something like horror as, against her will, Tayuya's hands separated from the seal they were holding, causing the barrier jutsu to fail.

With a flicker and huge surge of chakra, the barrier imploded on itself owing to the sudden imbalance of chakra input. The feedback forced chakra into all four Oto-nin connected to it, instantly killing three of them while permanently removing Tayuya's ability to use chakra and knocking her unconscious.

Quickly recovering from their slight surprise at Naruto's technique, the Anbu and Jiraiya prepared to leap to the Hokage's aid once the barrier fully vanished. They noticed that the clone was panting on the floor after releasing the technique, indicating that its chakra costs were massive.

The clone watched with gritted teeth, as the barrier faded enough for him to see the Sandaime simultaneously engaging the Shodaime and Orochimaru, while the Nidaime snuck up on him. Noticing that the Hokage was getting tired, and had probably failed to sense the presence of his other teacher, the clone prepared the last of its chakra.

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he noticed what the clone had just seen, and it was in that moment that the barrier finally vanished. Even as he was blurring across the distance between them, he knew that he would not make it time.

Suddenly, the area around the Nidaime exploded as something slammed into him, allowing the Hokage to finally disengage from his two opponents and retreat to the arriving backup.

The dust cleared to reveal the damaged body of the Nidaime, smashed into the ground by a lightning encased clone holding in its down thrust arm, a swirling ball of blue chakra. With a glance in the direction of the Konoha entourage, the clone finally dispelled – having used up all of its chakra in that last move.

Determined not to waste the chance that Naruto had given him, The Sandaime Hokage straightened and gathered his chakra around him, suddenly appearing as the Kami no Shinobi of legends. The Toad Sannin stepped up to his right, while to his left, the Copy Ninja and the Green Beast of Konoha took their position, ready to face down their enemies. Before the battle could resume, Jiraiya unsealed a roll of sealing tags and with a nod to the Anbu captain present, tossed it at him; knowing his teammate's love for forbidden jutsu, they had planned for just such an occasion. With an unspoken signal, the two sides clashed.

* * *

The original Naruto coolly surveyed the smoking battleground before him. All the snake summons had been dealt with, and he was pleased to note that the toads had sustained minor injuries at worst. With a graceful and respectful bow towards the five toads, he allowed them to return to their home on Mount Myouboku.

During the course of the battle at the walls, he had been receiving periodic updates from all his clones scattered throughout the village; with the arrival of the **Shunko** using clones, the Konoha ninjas had been able to summarily defeat and subdue the invaders with minimal casualties. Now, all that were left were negligible pockets of resistance which wouldn't last much longer. With a mental command for his clones to begin tending to the wounded, Naruto vanished in what was rapidly becoming his signature – a flash of blue-white light and the rolling sound of thunder, leaving behind a group of Konoha ninja who would tell of his prowess in the days, weeks, months and years to come.

* * *

Jiraiya panted next to his teacher as he gathered himself to reengage with the Shodaime and Orochimaru. The Konoha ninja had caught a lucky break earlier on and, after many powerful exchanges, they had managed to seal up the Nidaime hokage. With the odds improved in their favor, they had driven Orochimaru and his summoned puppet back, leaving Orochimaru just as run down as they were and damaging the Shodaime numerous times - forcing him to pause at various intervals to regenerate.

At this point, Kakashi was barely standing, exhausted from the prolonged use of his Sharingan in such a high level battle. Gai's muscles were strained to their limit as he fought to keep the **Keimon** (Gate of View) open; he had been forced to release six of the eight celestial gates in order to keep up with the monstrous Kage level ninjas around him.

Still, things were not going as well as they could be. The nigh invincibility imparted on the Shodaime by Orochimaru's technique meant that, whereas the Konoha ninja had managed to tire out Orochimaru and even damaged the summoned puppet, Hashirama was still as fresh as a daisy, with unlimited chakra to call upon. If Hashirama were still merely human, the combined might of The Kami no Shinobi, the Toad Sage, the Copy Shinobi, and the Green Beast of Konoha would have been enough to put him down by now. However, everytime they dealt what would have been a fatal blow, he just shrugged it off and healed himself. Add to that problem the fact that he couldn't run out of chakra like they could, and you get an untenable situation.

The sound of palms meeting in a clap drew the attention of the Konoha ninja to find Hashirama about to launch another Mokuton attack at them. Sarutobi, knowing that the others could not keep up with such a stalemate for much longer, prepared to sacrifice himself to give them the opening they needed. However, the next events showed that Orochimaru was also tired of the stalemate and intended to bring the battle to a close. Hashirama's dead voice intoned,

**Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan **(Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees).

The ground between the two factions erupted in a mass of rapidly growing trees, all reaching forward to kill the Konoha ninja. Sarutobi and Jiraiya furiously harnessed their flagging chakra to pull off a combination fire jutsu, hoping that it would be enough to check the army killing attack bearing down on them.

They needn't have bothered.

With a boom of sound, Naruto's voice suddenly roared through the air, originating from the space in between the Konoha contingent and the approaching trees,

**Raiton: Rairyuu no Houkou **(Lightning Release: Roar of the Lightning Dragon).

Out of Naruto's mouth emerged a massive torrent of yellow crackling devastation. The attack rapidly expanded to match the size of the approaching trees and when the two met, the explosion was felt throughout the entire village. While the ninjas were blinded by the light, the Anbu captain felt a body breeze past him, while plucking a sealing tag from his hand. The light and dust finally cleared to reveal splinters, sawdust, and ,in some cases, ash.

Orochimaru let loose an annoyed hiss and spun to command the Shodaime hokage; only for his eyes to widen in surprise when he caught the sealing tag planted on the chest of the summoned Kage by a fading blond haired clone. Before he could react, the seal activated and sealed up his puppet, permanently. The Snake Sannin's infuriated gaze cut back to the Konoha ninjas to find the slightly hunched over and out of breath form of Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.

Having finally regained his breath after such an expenditure of chakra - enough to summon four Gamabuntas, Naruto straightened and faced Orochimaru, sensing, but not reacting to, the appearance of the Sandaime, Jiraiya, Kakashi and Gai at his side. No one stopped to ask what a genin was doing standing shoulder to shoulder with Konoha's most powerful ninja; indeed, if one tilted their head and squinted, it would look like Namikaze Minato was the one standing in Naruto's place.

Even Orochimaru had to acknowledge that he had lost the battle. With a frustrated glance at the captured figure of the only surviving one of his Oto elites, he vanished before the eyes of the gathered Konoha ninja, trailing away like dispersing smoke.

For a moment, the stadium was silent as the Ninjas present looked around in case Orochimaru was still lying in wait. With a bone weary sigh, Sarutobi finally relaxed from his ready stance, causing the others to break out in smiles of relief, with even some vocalized cheers amongst them. The Sandaime's gnarled hand came to rest on Naruto's gold locks and he ruffled them with a fond and proud smile on his face. The surrounding ninja also aimed smiles of gratitude at the genin in their midst, still too relieved at surviving the ordeal to begin questioning just how they had survived.

* * *

A few miles from the walls of Konoha, Kabuto stepped over the unconscious bodies of the two older sand siblings, slowing approaching the prone form of the Ichibi jinchuuriki. With deft movements, his hands reached into a pocket to extract a syringe filled with viscous white liquid. With the smooth and steady hands of a veteran medic, he administered the cocktail to Gaara, and promptly high tailed it out of there, pausing to grab the two unconscious teenagers on his way – just on a whim.

* * *

All across Konoha, eyes widened in terror as a thick miasma of madness inducing bloodlust suddenly overlaid the village. Civilians crumbled to their knees, with some of them throwing up in sheer fear, while others passed out under the onslaught. Almost as one, ninjas turned to face the general direction from which the feeling was originating and when they beheld the approaching behemoth, sheer pandemonium broke out.

The hokage, trailed by Jiraiya, Kakashi, Gai, Naruto, and the Anbu captain arrived at the wall upon which Ibiki stood, facing the slowly approaching form of the One-Tailed Desert Raccoon, Shukaku.

Jiraiya cursed when he realized that his chakra was too low to pull off summoning Gamabunta, and the hard look in his sensei's eyes told him he was almost out as well. He barely managed not to twitch when, with the buzzing of electricity, numerous blond clones arrive around them. Counting them, he quickly estimated there to be about twenty clones present, all with their lightning jutsu deactivated.

Naruto probed his chakra network and had to fight back a sigh when he realized that he only had about twenty percent of his chakra left…slightly not enough for what he intended to do. Determined not to release another level of his seal, he cast a considering glance at the clones around him and with a nod, he sent a mental command towards them.

In unison, twenty hands came up to point towards the original Naruto, while the other twenty formed ram seals. Strands of blue chakra reached from the outstretched hands to connect with the original and the more sensitive ninja were able to sense the transfer of chakra taking place. Naruto's clones had been fighting for a while and were nowhere near full capacity. Still, they were able to raise his chakra enough to be able to handle the massive working he was about to pull off.

As the clones, finally devoid of all chakra, vanished from sight, Naruto turned back to the approaching Ichibi. He cast his gaze upwards and was gratified to note that the clouds had fully gathered and darkened sufficiently; it cost less chakra when he didn't have to setup the proper conditions for his intended jutsu.

While the gathered ninja looked on, wondering what Naruto planned to do, he stepped forward to the edge of the wall, and began to mold all the chakra he had left; causing some people to flinch as his body suddenly exploded in a raging blue storm of chakra.

Slowly, he bit his thumb and his hands came up to form hand seals.

_Bird_

The skies above suddenly darkened further as Naruto's chakra reached out to begin affecting its surroundings, priming the air for the powerful jutsu about to be performed.

_Boar_

Lightning began to leap from cloud to cloud as his chakra discharged, sparking off a cascade of electrical eruptions across the skies. Near constant rolling thunder boomed across the heavens as lightning lit up the darkened skies. At this point, eyes were locked on the darkened clouds as their owners felt their hair standing on end on account of the extremely charged air. Even Shukaku had paused in his approach to observe what was happening. Only Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Kakashi were watching Naruto, and so, they were the only ones who noticed how much strain the technique was putting him under.

_Ram_

Suddenly, the chakra surrounding Naruto leapt to the skies as single bolt of lightning, as though it were a signal flare.

Then, Naruto spoke in a voice that echoed across the entire village and seemed to reach the very heavens themselves.

The heavens responded.

**Raiton Kuchiyose: Raijuu **(Lightning Summoning: Thunder Beast)!

The very skies trembled with a sudden roar of thunder, and the air exploded with a blinding flash of lightning. Naruto, completely drained of chakra, swayed on the spot and then slowly fell over backwards…into the waiting arms of the Sandaime Hokage. Before his eyes closed, he was able to catch a glimpse of the 300 foot tall lightning wolf he had summoned bounding towards the figure of the One-Tailed Demon, and then he knew no more.

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


	13. So our little errors

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.**

**AN **: So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.**

* * *

Sarutobi let loose a weary sigh as he stood up from his seat beside the unconscious form of Uzumaki Naruto. It was time for the first council meeting since the events of the invasion and they had much to discuss – even the Daimyo would be in attendance – since the village had finally settled down and begun to recover from the devastating attack. The initial reports and estimates had revealed that Konoha had lost a surprisingly low number of defendants – less than a few hundred all told. Those same reports also listed the most likely cause for their low casualty rates: Uzumaki Naruto. Sarutobi knew that the next few hours would determine the young man's fate, and he could do nothing but pray that his perverted student got back in time with his target; he had played the doting sensei for too long, it was time he acted as the Hokage he was. With that last thought, he turned to leave the room, preparing himself as though he were going to war…a reasonable assumption.

The council chamber was filled with the voices of those gathered. The civilians on one side were muttering amongst themselves about the happenings of the past few days, and about the genin that everyone was talking about. They were uneasy because the recent events of the invasion had revealed to those present that they had all been terribly wrong in their action towards the blond haired child. Many of them had been the more vocal detractors of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and now, it seemed like their malicious actions would be returning to bite them.

Seating away from their civilian counterparts, the ninja clan heads were also involved in a discussion of their own. Many of them had children in the same year as Uzumaki Naruto and had, in the past, inquired after the boy's nature and performance in the Academy; the reports were not flattering. Yet, the events of the failed invasion and the Chunin Selection Exams suggested that everyone had been fooled by the genin's nonchalant airs. Though, as most of them recalled, Naruto had apparently broken all the records held in the Academy graduation exam, so maybe, the signs had been there from the beginning, and they had simply missed them.

Hyuuga Hiashi sat in his usual stoic manner, face blank and hiding the turbulent thoughts raging through his mind. After things had settled, he had attended a meeting with his clan elders, and they had made their opinions clear: They would not – could not – stand by while a no-name orphan made a mockery of their clan's most prized techniques; an opinion shared by most of the members of the clan, main branch and otherwise. Hiashi had reserved his judgment, swayed by memories of another blond haired blue eyed prodigy who had performed previously thought to be impossible feats with casual ease; a man who had been a dear friend to him and his wife. When the elders had thought to call him out on his neutral stance on the matter, he had simply pointed out that they had no grounds on which to persecute the genin. They didn't have proof that he had stolen their clan scrolls, nor did he possess the Sharingan to copy their technique. As impossible as it seemed, they just had to accept that he had simply observed the technique being performed, and replicated it, adapting it to suit his needs. After much grumbling and empty threats, they had subsided, leaving with a warning to keep an eye on the boy, and find out if he could be manipulated for the benefit of the clan. Hiashi had merely gazed back coolly at the interfering old fossils until they shuffled off uneasily. Now, as he sat in wait for the arrival of the Hokage and the Daimyo, he wondered what would happen next.

Nara Shikaku sighed tiredly as his ears picked up some of the things the civilians were talking about. As jounin commander, he was expected to be aware of all the ninja in Konoha, in particular, all those with potential. Thus, it was perfectly understandable that he felt blindsided by Uzumaki Naruto's performance during the Chunin Exams and the invasion after it. He recalled Shikamaru mentioning, about two years ago, that Naruto seemed to have changed after his one month long absence from school. Yet, Shikamaru had said that there was nothing interesting about him; he just skipped school and generally acted as though he couldn't be bothered to try. Now, it became clear that his indifference had not been out of laziness, but simply because he really _couldn't be bothered to _try. Though it was troublesome, he acknowledged that the blond haired genin currently lying unconscious in the hospital presented a most intriguing puzzle to be solved, and there was almost nothing he liked more than solving puzzles.

Inoichi flicked his gaze at Shikaku next to him, his sharp eyes easily picking up on the calculating gleam in his friend's eyes, his decades' long experience of the other man allowing him to correctly deduce the shape of his thoughts; he couldn't blame him. His darling Ino, ever the gossip queen that she was, had wasted no time in telling him all that had happened during their mission to the Land of Waves; going so far as to give him necessary background information on Naruto in order to put things in perspective for him. Being a high ranking member of the Intelligence Department, Inoichi was one of the few people privy to the truth behind Uzumaki's three months absence from the public. Having long since mastered the art of psychological evaluation, he wondered if he could site the boy's attempted suicide as the cause of his sudden change. Still, even if the experience caused him to take his studies more seriously, it still could not account for the boy's quite frankly terrifying skill in the ninja arts – here, the highly classified report of his battle with Orochimaru in the forest came to mind. He could not quite fathom how no one had noticed such talent. Did the boy's status as a jinchuuriki blind the Academy instructors to the prodigy in their mist? Or, was it, as Ino had said, that the boy simply didn't display anything to reveal his hidden talents? _Either way_, he concluded, _something is going on and this meeting should help sort things out_.

All talking in the room abruptly ceased as the doors were pushed open; many in the room unconsciously straightening in their seats at the serious air surrounding the now present Sandaime Hokage and Daimyo. The two most powerful men in the Land of Fire walked side by side to their seats located in between the two factions of the council. As soon as they were seated, Sarutobi motioned to a clerk who had been standing by the side to begin.

With the nervous air of one new to the job, Hamada Hisui cleared his throat and began to speak, valiantly ignoring the focused gazes of all the people gathered in the room.

"As of two hours ago, these are the casualty reports: Damages sustained to numerous houses, businesses, the Shinobi Academy, the Chunin Exam Stadium, the village walls, and parts of the hospital total about 27 million ryo. The number of deaths reported so far is 298 ninjas – made up of 48 jounin, 75 chunin, and the rest genin. On the civilian side, we have a reported 134 deaths and many more injuries for both ninjas and civilians alike."

With that last statement, he took a step back, clearly indicating that he was done. After he had finished, Sarutobi motioned for him to begin distributing the folders he had in his hand in which were contained a far more detailed accounting of the losses they had sustained. A few minutes of paper shuffling later, most of the councilmen present finally let loose the breaths that they had been holding, somewhat relieved that the losses sustained were relatively little for an invasion attempt by two powerful ninja villages.

With the details laid out before them, Sarutobi opened up the floor for individuals to come forward with reports from the various sectors that they were in charge of. He listened as the council members brought forth their concerns and request for more relief funds. Through the nearly hour long discussion, he merely listened passively as he smoked his pipe, looking for all the world like an old man who had nothing better to do than be there. Finally, the proceedings drew to a close, ending with the head of the hospital requesting extra helping hands in the form of any ninja who knew battlefield healing; they had all been run ragged and most couldn't even summon up the chakra to close a paper cut anymore.

Once they were all done, the Daimyo leaned forward slightly, drawing the attention of everyone present, and spoke in a casual tone that disarmed all but the similarly cunning Hokage and a few of the ninja present,

"The damages sustained sadden me, but I am confident that Konoha can bounce back from such a tragedy. Still, this old man's memory might be faulty but don't such enemy actions usually result in more losses?"

Seeing the young lad before them verbally stumble as he tried to provide a response to his lord's unspoken question, Danzo took the opening presented to shift the discussion into a direction he wanted,

"Indeed Daimyo-sama, and there are…sayings circulating about why that was not the case."

Abruptly, the air in the room thickened with tension as Danzo broached the topic that everyone wanted to discuss, yet no one wanted to bring up. Some of the people who had let down their guard earlier as it seemed that the meeting would proceed as normal were currently cursing themselves for allowing themselves to be caught flat footed.

Still playing the absentminded old ruler that he was not, the Fire Daimyo let loose an _ahh_ sound of realization, and spoke up innocently,

"Yes, yes, I hear that it was all from the effort of one lone genin, one _Namikaze _Naruto."

As some of the people present flinched at the name, those who had not yet caught on were beginning to realize that the seemingly doting old ruler before them was up to something and the faint feelings of dread began to creep into their minds.

Casting his gaze on his teammate, Danzo found Sarutobi nonchalantly refilling his tobacco pipe, acting as though it were vital to all of existence that his pipe be refilled in the next moment. Suddenly realizing that the lateness of the Hokage and Daimyo to the meeting had probably been planned, providing them with some time to plot together – thus putting him at a disadvantage, he settled back in his seat, determined to observe what was about to happen next, and to ensure that he didn't fall for whatever scheme the two crafty rulers had cooked up.

A particularly brave councilman spoke up in meek tones, still unwilling to entertain the possibility of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's parentage and the changes that such truth would cause to the status quo,

"Ah…Daimyo-sama, don't you mean Uzumaki Naruto?"

Blinking at the man as though he were a particularly interesting insect that persisted in clinging to his shoe, he turned to his fellow ruler and asked,

"Ho…am I wrong in my assumption, Sarutobi-dono? Did my eyes deceive me or did the boy, in fact, look like my dear departed friend, Minato?"

The faces of those who had been particularly aggressive in the persecution of the child in question paled slightly as they were reminded of the close relationship that had existed between the Daimyo and the Yondaime Hokage for the year that he had led their village.

The Daimyo had treated Minato like a favored nephew, allowing him certain privileges that had enabled Minato curtail the influence of the civilian portion of the council – limiting their interference in his village and allowing him to better lead it. Now, along with that reminder of their lord's fondness for the legendary ninja came the realization that, if it were proven that Naruto was the man's son, they might have to answer to the most powerful man in the land for their treatment of the boy.

Ignoring the slightly panicked looks of some of those present, Sarutobi finally confirmed a vital piece of the mystery surrounding Naruto,

"No, your eyes are as sharp as ever, Tanaka-dono; he is in fact the son of the late Yondaime Hokage. The risk of assassination attempts forced us to conceal the truth of his identity from the general public."

With the room reeling from the blatant confirmation of long held suspicions, the Daimyo continued, striking while the metal was still hot and giving those present no time to react to the sudden bomb the Hokage had just dropped,

"Understandable, and in light of that fact, I find that my decision becomes easier."

Now with a twinkle in his eyes, the Daimyo spoke with an almost cheerful finality in his tone,

"Well, Sarutobi my friend, you and I can both agree that you are not getting any younger, and that at this juncture, it might be best to choose a successor. I think that Minato's strapping young lad is a reasonable candidate."

Silence followed his declaration for a heartbeat, before it was abruptly shattered by loud protests from most of those gathered, civilians and ninjas alike.

Through the furious shouts of "he's too young", "there are better candidates", and even, "not that demon brat" – which caused an unnoticed twitch in the Sandaime's right eye, the aging Daimyo merely sat back and calmly observed the chaos caused by his words.

Finally, Danzo's sharp voice sliced through the storm of protests, forcibly refocusing the attention of the furious council members on the matter at hand,

"I must admit, Daimyo-sama, that I agree with my fellow councilmen that the boy is simply not ready to be considered for such a thing. Still, in all this excitement, I noticed that my former teammate has yet to give his opinion."

Pleased at shifting the attention to the old Hokage, Danzo subsided, waiting for Sarutobi's next move.

Blowing out a stream of smoke, Hiruzen finally turned his eyes on the people waiting for his input, noticing Danzo's sharp gaze but not reacting to it. With an even tone, he spoke,

"Naruto-kun, without a doubt, is the embodiment of the Will of Fire, which is the heart of this great village. I have complete faith in his ability to be the greatest Hokage that this village has ever known and I stand with you in the matter of my needing a successor. That said, I must agree with the objections to his age and lack of experience; he is simply not ready to be Godaime Hokage."

Faint muttering broker out amongst those who had been protesting the Daimyo's words, many of them relieved that the Hokage would not be considering Naruto as a successor. Danzo, however, found himself uneasy even though he should feel pleased that Sarutobi seemed to be disagreeing with his assumed accomplice. As he noticed his old friend preparing to speak again, he listened, and learned the reason for his unease.

While the others in the room were feeling relieved at Sarutobi's words, he spoke again, garnering their attention once more,

"As I said, he is simply not ready to be Godaime Hokage, which is why he will be the Rokudaime Hokage."

Jaws dropped at that statement, but before their owners could begin a fresh round of protests, the Sandaime continued,

"The delay will give him the time to grow up, mature, and learn about leading a village while catering to the needs of the people."

Irritated at his teammate's slyness in nominating the boy for Rokudaime – an action which the Daimyo seemed to have expected, judging by his nodding head, Danzo moved on to the second part of his plan; appointing a pawn as Godaime Hokage, and only if he couldn't get himself chosen,

"Putting that matter aside, we are still in need of an immediate successor. Now, I have a few suggestions in mind, which I am sure you will all agree are –"

Smoothly interrupting him, Sarutobi said,

"Oh, did I fail to mention? Forgive me, it must be the forgetfulness of old age, you see? We do already have a Godaime Hokage, and if I am not mistaken, my successor should be arriving any moment now."

Just as everyone had finally digested his words, and before anyone could react to that surprising tit bit – least of all, Danzo, who felt like strangling his faintly smug teammate, the doors swung open to reveal the figures of two of Konoha's legends.

Striding forward, heels clacking against the floor, green robe fluttering behind her, and generous bust swinging side to side, Senju Tsunade cut an impressive figure as she came to a stop in the center of the council room, eyes fixed in a glare fit to strip paint off the walls. At her side, Jiraiya trailed in, bruises on his face showing his lack of success in keeping his perverted nature under wraps around the volatile woman. With a scowl planted on a face belonging to a woman decades younger, the Slug Princess locked her resentful gaze on the eyes of her placid teacher, terribly annoyed at being strong armed into coming back to the place that had robbed her of everything she had ever loved.

* * *

Fidgeting impatiently in place, Haruno Sakura called out once more,

"Hurry up Ino! I want to get there before any of the others."

With an exasperated huff, Ino finally emerged from her family's flower shop, clutching three bouquets in her hands. Passing one of them to Sakura, she turned to start walking towards the hospital, making space for her pink haired friend to walk beside her.

Sakura threw a questioning look at the second bouquet in the blonde's hands and asked,

"Ino, why do you have two? Ah! Don't tell me, you're trying to impress Sasuke-kun aren't you?!"

Rolling her eyes at her friend's over fixation with the broody Uchiha heir – blatantly ignoring the fact that she had been just as bad days before, Ino responded,

"Tch, don't be daft Sakura. One is for Sasuke-kun, and the other is for Naruto-kun."

Blinking in surprise at that, Sakura suddenly felt guilty for forgetting that her second teammate was also in the hospital. Aiming a slightly sheepish look at her irritated friend, she continued walking towards the library, thinking about the happenings of the past few days.

When the Kage's box had exploded and the invasion begun, she had been frozen in fear, having just seen an unknown Konoha ninja die just before her eyes. In her state of fear, she had not noticed the veritable rain of weapons bearing down on her teammate, nor his surprising rejoinder, nor even the ninja sneaking up to separate her pink head from her body. It had been Ino's scream of fear that had caused her to turn and find the sword on its path to behead her. Having only enough time to flinch, Sakura paled in fear as she realized that she was about to die, when out of nowhere, there had been a buzz of sound and she had found herself looking into the slightly concerned eyes of her teammate. Shaking herself off, she had put together what had just happened, but before she could turn to thank the blond, he was already off, tearing through the attacking ninja, leaving behind the gaping forms of his fellow genin.

Moments after her brush with death, she had received orders from Kakashi-sensei to do what she could to help fight off the invasion attempt, placing Shikamaru in charge of the genin present and leaving them to their devices. After that, she had had no more time to think about anything other than: _another kunai, aim, release_; providing long distance support to the rest of the genin was about the only thing she could do at the time.

When everything had finally settled, she had heard that Sasuke had been admitted into the hospital, but since she had been roped into helping the relief efforts, she had been unable to go visit him until this moment.

Yet, as she walked beside her friend, she couldn't help but remember the genuine concern she had seen in her blond teammate's sky blue eyes. Wondering why he would bother to care about her when she knew that she had – and she was embarrassed to admit – been nothing but a bitch to him since they had become a team, she suddenly had a flashback to the mission at wave: _We are teammates, and inherent in that description is the understanding that during missions I watch your back and expect you to watch mine_.

Ah, so that was it then.

Somehow, the belief that he had only cared because it was expected of him stung her fiercely and she idly wondered how things might have turned out if she had actually taken the time to get to know him.

Walking next to her pink haired friend, Ino was oblivious to Sakura's suddenly downcast mood; she was occupied with her own thoughts. While she had been helping out in the hospital, she had managed to listen in to various conversations amongst the older ninjas present.

They had all talked about the same thing.

And really, how could she blame them? She was one of the boy's classmates and yet even she too had been blown away by his performance at the Chunin Selection Exams. Who would have thought that Naruto…_Naruto!_...would be able to do the things he did? It baffled the mind, and if she were honest, scared her a little bit. Here was a boy who was her own age that was capable of going head to head with jounin twice his age, and emerging victorious. She had picked up rumors of his actions at the walls, the Academy, and even how some of his clones had provided emergency first aid to Konoha ninja who would have died otherwise.

Still, no matter how juicy the gossip surrounding his actions during the invasion was, it paled in comparison to the rumors flying around about the possibility that he was their hero's son. She had been there when his face had been unmasked for the first time in two years, and even she – a child who had never met the Yondaime in person – had immediately noticed the eerie similarity between her age mate and one of the faces on the Hokage Monument. A lot of people seemed to be convinced that he was indeed the Yondaime's son, yet at the same time, they all seemed to be afraid to accept it as the truth. If she didn't know any better, she say that they seemed like they had done something terribly wrong and very soon, they would pay for it.

Now, as she made her way towards the hospital to visit the two hospitalized members of the Rookie Nine, she wondered if she could get something interesting out of her fellow blond, not even dwelling on the fact that she was about to visit Sasuke.

_Besides,_ she thought to herself,_ Naruto is kind of a hottie too_.

The two girls, lost in their respective thoughts, walked into the hospital, oblivious to the reflective flash of a pair of lens being adjusted somewhere in a darkened alley behind them.

* * *

With a faint start, Uchiha Sasuke jerked out of unconsciousness to hear the faint murmur of voices just outside the door. His return to wakefulness left him disoriented and confused for a moment, memories vague and blurry, as he tried to recall how he had ended up in a hospital bed. Racking his mind, the last thing he could recall was charging at his sensei, newly learned – but not yet mastered – **chidori** crackling merrily in his clenched hand…then nothing.

Checking himself over, he found that he had no lingering soreness or aches anywhere, nor was he bandaged. With furrowed brows, he sat up in his bed, seconds before the door to his room swung open to reveal his two most persistent _fangirls_.

Suppressing a grimace of irritation, Sasuke plastered on an indifferent look on his face as he prepared to find out what had happened in the time that he had been unconscious.

Pinning the two girls with a _look_, he questioned them before they could start off with their usual irritating fussing and pestering,

"Why am I in here?"

Momentarily taken aback at being directly addressed by their main crush, the two girls faltered in their approach for an instant, before Sakura was able to pull herself together and respond,

"Well…Kakashi-sensei said that you were injured at the beginning of the invasion."

Now more confused, Sasuke queried,

"What invasion?"

Blinking in surprise at him, Ino wondered if his memory had been affected by the attack on his person. Shrugging off her thoughts on that matter, she began to detail what had happened, with Sakura occasionally adding in bits and pieces that she hadn't been aware of. Almost without conscious thought, she found herself slightly gushing about Naruto's part in repelling the invasion, completely ignorant of Sasuke's increasing fury and Sakura's mounting confusion.

As soon as she finished, making sure to mention the rumors surrounding Naruto's parentage and whispers of a promotion beyond chunin, she turned to Sasuke and waited for his reaction.

Sasuke, for his part, was absolutely blank on the outside. So great was his rage that his features were unable to express it clearly, and so defaulted to a blank and expressionless visage. He could not seem to think beyond the knowledge that Naruto, of all people, had possessed such power without him knowing. It was incomprehensible that a no-name clanless orphan – regardless of the rumors surrounding his possible father – would be capable of such feats; feats that he knew he could not even fathom doing.

_Who_, he snarled in his mind, _who thought him all these years? Why didn't they teach me? I'm the one who needs to grow stronger…to kill him! Why?!_

His thoughts cycled within his mind, bolstering his anger to never before seen heights. So consumed was he by the furious storm of emotion that he was not aware when he turned to the two girls by his bedside and slowly said,

"Leave"

Something of his bottled up feelings must have shown because, with none of her usual reluctance to leave him, Sakura promptly stood up to leave, somehow convincing herself that she was not fleeing. Ino trailed after her, pausing in the doorway to toss one last glance at the frozen form of the Uchiha heir, before she shut the door behind her.

Now alone, Sasuke finally allowed himself to outwardly react to the situation. His teeth ground together in fury, his sharingan activated and began to spin furiously, and color rose in his cheeks as his rage effortlessly shattered his usually calm Uchiha façade. His hands, hidden by the blanket pooled at his waist, clenched so tightly that his nail cut into his palm, leaving behind bloody red crescents in his pale skin.

Hate…thick, oozing, cloying hatred burst forth from his heart, filling up his entire being until all that he knew, all that he could have ever known, all that he was, was hate.

Hatred at Naruto for being strong when he could not

Hatred at Konoha for denying him the power he needed to fulfill his lifelong dream

Hatred at _Him_ for destroying everything that he had ever loved

Above all, hatred at himself for being weak

Suddenly, he lurched forward, right hand flying up to grab at the place where his left shoulder met his neck. It was only then that he became aware of the spreading marks on his body, all originating from the curse seal on his body. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to calm down and steadily pushed back the influence of the seal.

When he had it back under control, he took in a deep breath and let it out.

Abruptly, his mind flashed back to the second stage of the Chunin exams, when he had been under the influence of Orochimaru's seal, when he had been too strong for any of the other genin to contend with.

_No,_ he recalled,_ Naruto was able to stop me._

With the thought of his teammate, he was plunged back into his thoughts on the recent invasion and how useless he had been in comparison to the Academy dead last.

Just as he was about to fully resume the vicious cycle of his destructive thoughts, the gentle clearing of a throat right beside his bed had him flinching and zeroing in on the figure suddenly standing there.

He had just managed to take in the silver hair and glasses before the person spoke in an unassuming tone,

"Sasuke-kun, my master has a proposal for you."

* * *

Seating on his specially crafted raised chair, the crafty old fox known as Onoki the Fence Sitter pondered the documents placed before him.

His spies had just brought word of the recent happenings in Konoha.

He wasn't even focused on the opportunities that might exist as a result of the damages sustained by Konoha; no, he was instead gazing at a picture that brought tension to his jaw, and a hard glint to his eyes.

Once he had heard news of another blond haired blue eyed ninja capable of unbelievable high speed movement, as well as summoning toads, he had contemplated the risks and benefits of attempting to assassinate the child before he got the chance to truly grow into his power – and wasn't that just a fearsome thought, that the child was capable of such feats at the young age of thirteen?

_Honestly, youngsters these days, trying to surpass their elders while still in diapers_.

He wondered what this new development would mean for his village. They had just barely finished recovering from the devastating blow dealt them by the Yondaime Hokage, not to mention the recent issue with one of their strongest ninja defecting to join some rogue group. His granddaughter had grown into a fine kunoichi, but even he had to admit that she would be no match for the rumored Namikaze heir. In truth, he estimated that they might be perhaps a dozen, at most, ninja in his village capable of matching the child, and he counted himself amongst them. There had even been rumors, a few years previous, of the identity of the new Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The lack of identifying traits on the blond haired child had weakened the integrity of such rumors, but if it were true, then he knew that they were in serious trouble.

With a weary sigh, he finally placed his stamp of approval on the documents he had been staring at for the past hour.

Name: Namikaze* Uzumaki Naruto  
Rank: S-class, engage with caution  
Skill: High skills in taijutsu, kenjutsu, ninjutsu; unknown talent with genjutsu. Capable of kage level speed and strength, and Toad summoning. High proficiency in the use of the Raiton Element  
*Note: Rumored to be the son of the Yellow Flash  
Bounty: 40 million ryo dead or alive.

As he called for his secretary to come and send his approval to the bounty station, he began making plans to return Iwa's absent jinchuurikis to the fold; they would need all the strength that they could muster in the coming months.

* * *

The dark skinned kage considered the splintered remains of his desk while, to the side, his secretary shook her head in exasperation. He stood up and walked to his balcony overseeing his village, thoughts fixed on what he had just learned from one of his informants.

He didn't even entertain the notion that Uzumaki was not _that_ man's son; there was no doubt in his mind whatsoever. How could there be when the boy was a mini replica of the only man who had ever matched him in speed, while also wielding a high speed jutsu so like his own **Raiton no Yoroi**? Yet, being a man who valued strength above all things, the main though on his mind at that moment was that he was somewhat eager to test the boy's mettle in battle, but that was for another time.

He wondered what the repercussions of the recent events in Konoha would be.

He had finally managed to fix most of the mistakes of his bloodline obsessed predecessor and had dragged Kumogakure into the echelons of the major powers in the ninja world and now, Konoha had to go and pull such a stunt. There was no doubt in his mind that the display of skill put on by the genin during the Chunin Exams would see Konoha's reputation bolstered amongst the civilian clientele, leading to an increase in mission requests and revenue.

He let loose a weary sigh.

There was no helping it then; it was time to start resending Killer B, Darui, Team Samui, and Yugito on more visible high profile missions. It wouldn't do for people to think that they didn't possess talented Shinobi of their own. But first, he turned to Mabui and shouted,

"Mabui, tell my foolish brother to meet me at my private training grounds."

It was time to put B through the paces.

* * *

A knock on the door announced the presence of yet another visitor, before the door opened to reveal the bored face of Nara Shikamaru and his companion, Akimichi Chouji. Shikamaru paused for a second as he took in the forms of his fellow genin, noting that save for Sasuke and Naruto, the rest of the Konoha 12 were present in Lee's hospital room. With a mumbled _troublesome_, Shikamaru slouched into the room and placed his own get well card on the bedside table, which was overflowing with well wishes and gifts.

Apparently, Ino had been in the middle of sharing something, and she promptly got back to it once the customary greetings were over and done with. Shikamaru found himself unsurprised at the topic of the conversation.

"As I was saying, just when did Naruto-kun become so strong? I mean, wasn't it just yesterday that he was the dead last of our class and –"

A sudden sigh from Shikamaru cut her off, causing her to turn an annoyed – and expectant – gaze on the lazy _chunin_. Wondering if the effort of explaining was worth it, Shikamaru let loose another sigh causing Ino's face to tighten in further annoyance, before he explained,

"It's obvious that he was only the dead last because he wanted to be; no, because he didn't care enough not to be."

Seeing the uncomprehending looks of his peers, he elaborated,

"Remember, Naruto used to skip a lot of classes, never even showing up for taijutsu or weapons practice. The Academy only required that you attend a certain number of classes as well as pass your final exams to pass the year. So, he skipped out on almost everything and that was why his grades were low enough to make him dead last. Obviously, from his performance during the Chunin Exams, and even during the Academy Graduation, it's clear that he had not been idle in the two years he was skipping."

The others, partly surprised by Shikamaru's words – and also by the fact that he spoke so much in one sitting, took a moment to digest the explanation. Lee, Neji and Tenten, neither of whom had had much contact with Naruto before, couldn't really draw their own conclusions on the matter; the three of them had just assumed that Naruto's skills had been a combination of inborn talent and having a legend like Kakashi as a teacher.

Sakura's voice drew them out of their thoughts,

"Eh, then why did he hide it? I mean, there's no way that he would have just let people think he was weak if he wasn't…well, at least back then he wouldn't have."

The last part, spoken at a lower volume reminded the genins of Naruto's class that their classmate had changed somewhere along the way and they hadn't noticed. Shikamaru, for his part, was silent as he remembered days when teachers would send Naruto out of class minutes before teaching them something important, or when they would ignore the blond boy's sometimes insightful questions. Privately, he wondered if Naruto had simply given up on the Academy and done things his own way, and if that was the case, how much stronger would he have been if he had actually had a dedicated teacher?

The gathered genin spoke some more about the recent happenings in the village, taking the time to congratulate Shikamaru on his promotion, to which he merely mumbled his usual catchphrase. They also talked about the rumors currently circulating the village as well as the presence of the renowned medic, Senju Tsunade – here, Lee was ecstatic at the possibility of his injuries sustained during the preliminaries finally being healed.

Their discussion was just winding down when Lee suddenly perked up and exclaimed,

"I have heard that my new youthful rival is trapped here like me, I'm sure it would bolster his flames of youth if we paid him a visit!"

After the few seconds spent parsing Lee's speech to understand him, most of the genin there expressed their consent at visiting Naruto. Lee was helped into the wheelchair by his bed, and together, they trooped down to Naruto's room, entering after knocking and a smooth voice telling them to enter.

Naruto's blue gaze fixed on his fellow genin and he observed as they took in the obscene amount of flowers, balloons, and gifts surrounding his bed like an island in the sea; apparently, it had only taken a few days for Naruto's fan club to start up and grow in size to rival that of Uchiha Sasuke. Blinking in amusement as he noticed that there was practically no space for them to stand close enough, he finally relented.

Reaching out, he plucked a moderately sized wrapped package and, with his peers looking on in interest, took a very firm hold on his chakra and used the tiniest sliver of it to create a fine scalpel at the tip of his pointer finger. Using the chakra gathered there, he fluidly sketched out an elegant script of squiggly lines on the bottom of the gift, and focusing his mind on his purpose, he then activated the newly etched seal.

With a shimmer of chakra, the numerous gifts surrounding his bedside vanished into the seal, leaving only the one present that he was holding. Even though he had been very delicate in his use of chakra, he still felt the slight twinge of his bruised chakra network complaining at his actions. Not reacting to the slightly wide eyes of the others in the room, he placed the single gift back on the table and motioned for them to make themselves comfortable.

Shuffling forward, clearly curious at what they had just seen, the other Konoha genins arrayed themselves around Naruto's bed, with Sakura taking the single seat available. Surprisingly, it was not Ino who finally burst out in rapid fire questions at Naruto's actions, it was Tenten.

"Wait, that, just now, was that a storage seal? I use them a lot, and I didn't recognize it. Also, I noticed that there wasn't any smoke or sound when you sealed them. And how did you draw without ink? I've never heard of the method before."

While the others were still reeling from Tenten's rapid fire questions, Naruto found that he couldn't suppress the small smile that grew on his face – nor did he want to. However, as he moved to give her a few answers, vague as they may be, he suddenly noticed the distracted and slightly glazed look in the eyes of the budding weapons mistress, as well as the faint blush on her cheeks. Casting his eyes around revealed that she wasn't the only one whose eyes seemed unable to focus on his face – or to focus on anything besides his face. It took him only a moment to realize the cause of their distraction and when he did, he only just managed to bite back a sigh.

It had taken him a few decades to figure out some of the consequences of his transformation into the Eternal Sage.

First of all, whenever he transferred into a new reality, and a new body, his essence would begin to influence his physical body, changing it to more easily fit his soul. The end result was that all scars on his body vanished, leaving behind flawless golden tanned skin. His eyes almost always ended up blue, even if he had been born to different parents. It was not always the case that his hair was golden, but then those were often exceptions caused by bloodlines. When all was said and done, even at the age of thirteen, Naruto was already a breathtaking sight, and appearing shirtless and without his facemask just made his allure more noticeable.

Secondly, his chakra had not remained unchanged after absorbing an entire world's worth of Natural Energy. That energy, being the energy of life itself, had a quality that always seemed to draw in living things, causing them to feel relaxed and blissed out in the presence of concentrated doses of Natural Energy. Though Naruto was not currently molding Sage Chakra, his body's own normal chakra had been warped by the presence of a Sage's soul, causing its nature to take on some of the relaxing aspects of the energy of life. In fact, he had been curious a few millennia previous and had set out to test just how potent his chakra could be; the results had been surprising. He had discovered that, at full blast, his chakra was able to negate the terror inducing Killing Intent of the nine Bijuu, combined. In the presence of his chakra, plants seemed greener and the air seemed fresher; life, all-round, just seemed more vibrant.

The combination of the two abovementioned factors was currently wreaking havoc on the attention spans of the Konoha genin present. It was not usually a problem since his custom limiter seal was usually kept on level seven, limiting his chakra output as well as its passive effect on the people around him. Now, his seal was on a constant level six and, until his chakra network healed completely from the bruising it had received owing to his actions during the invasion, he would be unable to seal off level six. At that level, his aura was more noticeable owing to more of his chakra being on hand, and thus able to radiate more of the effects of his chakra.

Still, the situation was not completely hopeless. He mentally grasped his chakra and began to wind it tightly about his person, ignoring the twinges that came from manipulating his chakra network while it was still healing. Slowly, the effect of his chakra aura reduced until the genin present were able to shake off his allure. The moment he saw that he had their attention, he didn't wait for anyone to ask what had just happened, and instead began to answer Tenten's questions,

"Yes it was a storage seal, a customized one hence the lack of smoke or sound. The technique I used to draw it is a clan secret however, sorry."

Tenten, having finally gotten a hold of herself, was stumped at the last bit. With furrowed brows, she inquired further,

"What clan? I thought you were an orphan."

Naruto let loose a noncommittal hum and, noticing that he had the full attention of everyone present, he replied,

"My clan, the Uzumaki Clan of Uzushiogakure"

Shikamaru shifted at that, drawing the notice of the others in the room. With sharpened eyes, he queried,

"Wait, you're really from that clan? I thought your last name was just chosen because you were an orphan."

Naruto had a small smile on his face as he shook his head to negate Shikamaru's last statement. Sakura piped up with a question of her own,

"I remember reading about the clan, but it was only a small mention."

She turned expectant eyes on her blond teammate, unconsciously ignoring their somewhat strained relationship in favor of new knowledge. With a shrug, Naruto explained a little bit of Uzushiogakure's history, their proficiency with Fuuinjutsu as well as their subsequent destruction for said skills.

With an interested look in her eyes, Ino leaned forward and asked,

"Is that where you learnt your…stuff; from clan scrolls?"

Apparently that was a question everyone was interested in because the others shifted in attention. Naruto spared a scant second to consider how to respond before finally settling on,

"You could say that. I came across some knowledge of my clan about three years ago."

Shikamaru then spoke, with the satisfied air of someone who had just solved an intriguing puzzle,

"Three years ago, that time you missed about a month of classes towards the end of the year. Then, that must be why you began to skip; you were using the time to train in clan stuff."

The rest leaned in to take in Naruto's response to that theory. He merely responded with an enigmatic smile that had most of them huffing in exasperation. Still, most of them were convinced that Shikamaru was right in his conclusions.

Lee then chose that moment to burst out,

"Naruto-kun, your flames of youth were burning brightly during the Chunin Exams! I hope that Tsunade-sama can heal me soon so that I may spar with you and encourage our flames to new heights!"

Naruto expressed his consent to the future spar while the others also exclaimed over his performance during the exams, with most of them offering him congratulations since they fully believed that he would be promoted as well.

They all fell silent however when they noticed Naruto's gaze on Neji.

Neji, noticing the attention of his fellow genin, looked back stoically at the teen who had effortlessly defeated him in combat. He noticed Naruto's eyes flick to his left and, glancing over for a second, he saw that Naruto had looked at his cousin. Once he turned back to the piercing blue eyes, he found Naruto's face fixed in a questioning look with an eyebrow raised. While everyone else held their breath at the mounting tension, Neji considered the talk he had had with his uncle after he had lost his match. Then with his features softening a little, he inclined his head towards Naruto, who returned the gesture with one of his own. The two teens then had to fight back snickers at the audible sighs of relief spreading throughout the room; they had reached an understanding and now, Neji was no longer blinded by his hatred.

The eleven members of the Konoha 12 then spent some more time just talking amongst themselves. The others slowly got introduced to the Naruto they had never taken the time to know, and Naruto, well, he reconnected with the teens that had more often than not become best friends and more in other lives. By the time the teens left Naruto's room, not everything was dealt with, but bridges had been mended enough that everyone was comfortable with each other, and there had even been an agreement to meet up at a grill place for lunch sometime later.

Naruto's face held a soft smile as the last of his mates finally left his room. Now that he was alone, he set about fully checking up on the status of his body. Apparently, he had made a slight miscalculation in the design of his custom limiter seal as evidenced by the present state of his chakra network. He had spent about two years on a constant level seven and so, when he had unsealed to level six and then flung around high powered jutsu like candy on Halloween, he had strained his chakra pathways before they could acclimatize to the new level.

It wasn't too bad though, since this was the first time he was ever using said seal, it was actually pretty good for a first attempt. All that he would need to do would be to tweak the seal a little bit to speed up the rate at which his body adjusted to new levels. Normally, his advanced regeneration would have kicked in by now, but it was a chakra-based ability and so, given that his ability to use chakra was slightly dampened, he was healing at a slower rate than normal – still faster than the average ninja though. At his current level, using chakra caused a negligible ache in his body, as long as he wasn't doing anything extreme like summoning. Also, as he was now – level six and all, there were only a handful of people alive who could sneak into Konoha, harm him, and then make their way out before being intercepted.

Pleased with the pace that his body was mending and with the general state of things, he made to relax back in his bed when he suddenly tensed up, his piercing blue eyes flashing to the darkest corner of his room, just in time to see a figure materialize out of thin air.

The new comer was dressed in black robes with red clouds and an orange swirly mask with one eye hole in it.

* * *

Jiraiya's hand was inches from the door handle when he felt the spike of foreign – _and hostile_ – chakra in his godson's room. Before the surge had fully vanished, the door was already halfway through the wall on the other side of the room, lodged there by Jiraiya's mighty shove. He only took a heartbeat to understand what his eyes were seeing – orange mask, single sharingan eye, and above all, a black cloak with red clouds…_Akatsuki_ – before he moved, hurtling across the floor towards the masked intruder with his right hand outstretched and clutching a swirling ball of condensed chakra.

In the doorway, Sarutobi donned the persona of the Kami no Shinobi as he prepared to move into any opening that Jiraiya created while behind him, Kakashi and Tsunade shifted as well in preparation for a supporting attack.

All plans were summarily tossed out the window as Jiraiya phased through the stranger – clutched rasengan and all – and obliterated the wall behind him.

The destruction and use of chakra drew the attention of nearby Anbu and with a flutter of black, there was a four man squad arrayed behind the three ninjas in the door as well as occupying some of the space previously taken by the now nonexistent wall surrounding the doorway.

As Sarutobi motioned for them to halt their attacks, worried about collateral damage if their attacks passed through the intruder, he watched on as Jiraiya attempted to regain his footing from the surprise miss.

A pale hand bearing a ring suddenly landed on the Toad Sannin's shoulder, and before anyone could react, the air around Jiraiya began to warp and twist into itself, seeking to suck the Sannin into places unknown.

Jiraiya grimaced as he fought to escape the powerful pull, marshaling his chakra to no avail. Just as he was about to succumb to the assault – and with the surrounding Konoha ninja helpless to do anything, there were three flashes of golden yellow light, two so close together that they seemed to be one.

Everyone blinked as they found Jiraiya suddenly seating next to the crouching form of Uzumaki Naruto.

A single thought flashed through everyone's mind at the same time.

_Hiraishin!_

Before anyone could react to the reemergence of such a legendary technique, Naruto spoke up,

"That attire, that technique, that chakra…without a doubt, you are the ninja who ripped the Kyuubi out of my mother and started its rampage in Konoha thirteen years ago."

Bodies shifted as the ninjas present released a burst of Killing Intent in a knee-jerk reaction to Naruto's statement. With the danger level of their foe just increased, they all focused as one on the enemy, now determined more than ever to bring him down.

The masked man responded to Naruto's words, speaking in an even tone,

"I see, you know of what happened that night. How unexpected"

As people glanced at him in expectation of his response, Naruto merely locked gazes with the stranger's lone eye and replied, all the while ignoring the startled gasps that sounded as people caught sight of his suddenly red and black slitted eyes,

"No matter how you try, you can't hide that kind of foul chakra from the Kyuubi."

Eyes widened as those who heard him stiffened in surprise at having not sensed him accessing the Kyuubi's chakra – it spoke of a level of control that was frankly alarming.

The masked man contemplated the blond haired kid before him.

After hearing of the boy's performance during the Chunin Exams, and the subsequent invasion, he had elected to look in on the brat, intending to find out if the boy would be a threat to his plans.

His first inkling that something was wrong was when the boy noticed him as soon as he had begun to warp into his room. Next had been the fact that the boy had fearlessly met his eyes and all his attempts to put a genjutsu on him had failed; the illusions just seemed to be sliding off him like water off a duck. Next had been his command of the Hiraishin, displaying a proficiency with the jutsu that rivaled that of his own father. Now the boy was speaking of things he wasn't supposed to know, hinting at a cordial enough relationship with the Kyuubi sealed in him as well as an astonishing command of the Bijuu's chakra.

He silently watched the other Konoha ninja present shift in their places as the various bombs were dropped one after the other. Finally, his red and black gaze alighted on a silver haired masked face and his eyes flashed with hidden malice as his thoughts were flung on another tangent.

He knew that something in him had broken irreparably as he had laid in the dark, waiting to die, trapped under tons of rock, and all alone. He was also aware that his master's meddling in his psyche had damaged him further; all the twisted words and – he only suspected – the genjutsu backed commands that had been given to him. He knew these things, and yet he could not find it in himself to care. He would see to the fulfillment of all their plans, even if he had to take care of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki years ahead of schedule.

_Nothing would keep him from seeing her again._

Naruto's now blue gaze remained on the mask wearing stranger, even as he felt Jiraiya retake his feet next to him. He remained in position, waiting for a signal, and as soon as he got it, he was off.

The watchers tensed as Naruto and the masked man suddenly moved in sync, racing towards each other. As they moved to intercept, a subtle – _Anbu! _ – hand signal from Naruto had them reluctantly staying their position.

A few feet away from the quickly approaching blond, the masked man's cursed eye noticed a twitch in the teen's right hand, effortlessly tracking the tri-pronged kunai that was suddenly flying towards his head.

As the blade sunk into his head, and began to phase through, he spared a moment for one thought,

_Like father like son_

He brought his right hand up to grasp Naruto's chest to warp him away, not even stumbling when his fingers only just brushed him before he vanished in a flash of golden yellow light. As he sensed the sudden presence of the child above him, his eye flashed in triumph as his left hand – which had been raised during his approach – brushed against Naruto's arm. He watched as the eyes of the surrounding ninja widened in dawning horror, relishing in their distress as he countered the move that had felled him thirteen years ago.

Before he could celebrate however, his eye suddenly picked up on a second tri-pronged kunai

_It was falling right past his face_.

He only had time to spare one thought: _Damn, again!_

The cloaked intruder was suddenly propelled into what remained of the wall Jiraiya had destroyed by the force of the rasengan thrust into his gut. Bits of his red and black cloak floated to the floor, as well as some blood and tissue.

Once the room cleared, the people watching took in the damage wrought to the stranger, even as they all prepared to move in and finish taking him down. However, since all but one had been focused on his body, they all missed something vital. Their heads all snapped to the door at the sound of a choked off breath and they turned to find Hatake Kakashi, headband raised to reveal his spinning Sharingan eye, which was wide with stunned disbelief and something akin to horror. His whispered word, which still penetrated the silence, had them all flinching back to the intruder, allowing them to take in the entire scene.

Naruto was standing in the center of the room, where he had met the intruder and outsmarted him.

In his right hand, he clutched the two tri-pronged kunai he had teleported to.

In his left, he held onto the orange mask he had ripped off.

Against the wall, the formerly masked stranger felt the wind on his face, causing him to snap his gaze up into the wide eyes of the ninjas present, Kakashi's word a whisper on the wind,

"Obito"

* * *

**A few notes, if I might have some of your time. First of all, allow me to address the delay in posting a new chapter. I had been asked a question which, caused me to pause and contemplate where I wanted to go with this story. It had taken me some time to realize that I was going about it all wrong. I didn't start this story with the intention of writing a deep plot with so many twists and turns and hidden secrets. No, I merely had a scene in my head of Naruto ripping off the Hyuuga Kaiten, and the rest is history. If authors are allowed to write hundreds of thousands of words worth of the protagonist just sleeping his way through everything that moves – and some things that don't, I think I am perfectly allowed to write a story where he is a cool guy who kicks ass and takes names, all the while casually reading a book. If I want a serious fic, I have my bleach story for that. This is just a project in self-amusement and I am glad that others are able to enjoy the story as well. **

**Okay, with that done, the next matter is that this story is very close to its conclusion. I know, I know, I had mentioned the intention to write the Shippuden arc after this, but I considered…meh. Don't worry, I'm not going to make some half arsed ending and slap a complete sticker on it. I will bring the story to a reasonable stopping point. But, I mean, I want to break out of this story and explore some more with his character. I even already have the opening chapters for four other short (maybe 30, 000 words) Naruto stories involving our beloved Eternal Sage, and here's a sneak peak of one…just a few sentences though, we wouldn't want to give anything away: **

Sarutobi and Minato spun to face the door as it was flung open by a flustered chunin, who promptly blurted out,

"Hokage-sama, there's a blond stranger being held at the hospital. He came in with the body of Uchiha Obito…he's alive."

Sarutobi only just felt the hand suddenly placed on his shoulder before his office vanished in a flash of yellow light.

Rushing into the hospital room, noting the presence of two guards outside, the two ninjas were just in time to hear a smooth voice respond,

"Naruto…my name is Naruto."

They took in the blond haired blue eyed stranger whose face was covered with a facemask much like Kakashi's.

_But that's not important right now,_ Minato thought,_ he brought my kid back home_.

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.**


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